Some of us are old enough to remember when the Russians sent up the Sputknik satellite. From Wikipedia:

“The Soviet Union launched it into an elliptical low Earth orbit on 4 October 1957. It was visible all around the Earth and its radio pulses were detectable. The surprise success precipitated the American Sputnik crisis and triggered the Space Race, a part of the larger Cold War. The launch ushered in new political, military, technological, and scientific developments.”

Congress then threw billions of dollars into “…new political, military, technological, and scientific developments.”