The explorative spirit of the Americans inspired projects of manned space flights like the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo projects put together by NASA. Projects like these were formed around the ultimate goal of eventually getting an American man to the moon (Webb, “Advanced”).
On March 6, 1958 the National Security Council discussed the United States’s objectives in its response to the Soviet Union launching their satellite. The expectations of future explorations were discussed and the timeline at which this would all be happening. Costs were estimated, as well as the factors of a large scaled mission into space. Thoughts of impossibility did not stop the US from accomplishing their goal of exploring outer space (Gleason, “US Objectives”).