There are many races, however in the 1950s and throughout the 1960’s there was only one big race – the space race. In August 30, 1955, the Russians sent a rocket up in space to overcome gravity, which for the next 10 years allowed them to claim dominance. The other competitor was the United States and eventually in May 1961, President Kennedy said before Congress I believe this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth. The sending a man on a rocket into space, land on the moon and come home safe at the time were all unknowns. It was relatively easy to go to the point of zero gravity and the early missions known as Mercury did that. The astronauts were the original superstars of the tabloids and a daily feature in Life magazine.

One of the writers of Life was James Schefter and he eventually wrote a book called The Race – The Uncensored Story of How America Beat Russia to the Moon, published by Doubleday, NY, 1999. There are many stories about the people and the backstories to the news. After President Kennedy said we should go to the moon, logistics begin to work. At the time NASA was located near Washington, DC and it had been a policy to include work or research from all the states as possible. Which state or which city would this headquarters be located? Cities such as Boston, Cape Canaveral, Tampa, New Orleans and Houston made bids and Houston won.

Behind the scenes, Texan Lyndon Johnson was Vice President; the Chairman of House appropriations subcommittee was Houstonian Albert Thomas or politically Houston was well connected. In addition the publisher of the Houston Post Oveta Culp Hobby pulled a classic Texas land deal. Humble Oil (now known as Exxon) owned a large parcel of prairie and wetlands on Clear Lake near Rice University. Exxon donated the land to Rice University but kept the mineral rights, Rice donated 1,000 acres to NASA and agreed to sell it another 650 acres for $1,000 an acre. Rice retained some land and made some money. Exxon received a tax deduction for its donation of land to Rice and retained mineral rights; NASA received free and cheap land. The taxpayers lost money but regained it as the NASA complex developed.

In addition to the land, Houston did meet all the basic criteria, of close to major universities, an international airport, major transportation networks, local technical infrastructure and more.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, often when you buy a stock it seems to have all the right criteria, but it does not do much. What you do not know is what goes on behind the scenes – how well does the President and Board Chair network to ensure what pieces need to fall in, actually falls in.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.