"Viewed as a source of national pride and patriotism, the program's strong public support helps shield it from the public doubts and budgetary pressures that constrain such programs elsewhere."
If only that were the case here. Five hundred years from now, will schoolkids learn the United States launched the first spacecraft to the moon, or will America be a footnote in the historical chapter on Chinese lunar colonization? You know, like sometimes Leif Ericsson has a tiny mention, below all the text referring to Christopher Columbus? :/