They Asked For The Moon

Thirty years after that first giant leap for mankind, it's hard to believe America ever had the will--or the vision--to take it

The folks at the Johnson Space Center in Houston have never much cared for their $225 million lawn ornament. Certainly, it's an impressive-looking thing; measuring nearly 400 ft. from its needly nose to its four stubby fins, it was designed on a scale more commonly associated with buildings than machines. The problem is, it's been decades since this particular machine actually stood to its full height. Instead, it has spent most of its life lying on its side in the withering Houston sun--beached, spent, a triumph less of engineering than of taxidermy.

The $225 million lawn ornament is--or was--a Saturn V...

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