http://www.pbs.org/kcet/wiredscience..._junkyard.html (video clip of the episode)
I completely forgot about this article/episode from Wired Science
http://www.wired.com/science/space/m...gallery_norton
Apparantly, the NASA program did not document its progress, they just built rockets without keeping the notes from the research which built them in the first place! So 50 plus billion dollars (1960s money people!) later they got no new knowledge or information from the research program. Today, NASA has to go to salvage and surplus yards finding old Apollo equipment and backtracking through it to figure out how it works, and what scientific principles it demonstrates. they have to relearn all of the science which built the program. again, what a waste! how could you build billions of dollars worth of space equipment, and then not take notes on what it all means?
In other words, we went to the moon, but we can't seem to remember how to get there....