Without the silicon chip, it's easy to imagine the moon race between the Americans and the Soviets having gone the other way.

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But five years ago, NASA was tasked with returning to the moon by 2020, rerunning the moon race that we won 40 years ago.

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Kennedy embarked on the moon race.

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The result is a fascinating and definitive history of the race to the moon.

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So where does that leave the VMA "Moon Man" in the race to the top?

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Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page are using company money to fund another X-Prize, to create a private race to the moon.

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LONDON, England (CNN) -- The race to return to the moon is on.

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Partisan paranoia: Finally, a new poll found that absurd conspiracy theories are sadly alive and well in the USA. These range from the self-evidently absurd (an alien race of lizard people secretly run the world) to old chestnuts like the moon landing was faked.

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He chose the goal of a manned moon mission because with any lesser target, advisors told him, the Russians would likely win the race, given their technological capabilities.

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And after the Soviet launch of Sputnik, the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth, the United States went about winning the Space Race by investing in science and technology, leading not only to small steps on the moon but also to tremendous economic benefits here on Earth.

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