A couple of generations ago we didn't have the internet and the only things people heard about were being managed. The big question was whether the media editors wanted to build someone up or tear them down.

The spoils of the space race would have gone to someone a lot like Musk. Or Ellison. Or Masayoshi Son. Or Sam Altman. Or the much worse old-moneyed types. The US space program was, famously, literally employing ex-Nazis. I doubt the beneficiaries of the money had particularly clean hands either