Maybe I just don't know this place well enough, but I'm surprised so many people took it so seriously. Like, the communist accusations and stuff - who actually thought that catching communists was gonna send stuff into space? The other smartest guy I know would have trouble building an actual rocket with the wages of 10 teachers and a small group of people who might know one or two things about space travel.
Like, who's even working on a rocket? Why does us catching communists in Suburbia mean that we get to send one into space?