There was some excitement recently when Chinese scientists retrieved a space capsule that had traveled to the moon and back to pick up samples of rock and dust.
A major accomplishment, but it's been more than 48 years now since the last American astronauts did the same thing, in person.
Project Apollo was a big deal in science, but in politics, too. It always had a secondary purpose, to showcase American ingenuity and freedom. Teasel Muir-Harmony, who is the curator of the Apollo collection at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, makes the case in her book Operation Moonglow: A Political History of Project Apollo.
The author joins us for an overview of the history.