By the late 1950s the superpowers of USA and Soviet had moved beyond attempting to dominate land, sea and air and now set their sights firmly on space. After the USSR succeeded in launching an unmanned satellite and sending a man into orbit first, the USA announced a massive spending programme in a decade long project to land a man on the moon and return him safely to Earth. It was called project Apollo - a vast mobilisation of national resources which achieved this incredible feat within 9 years.