Was the US Space Programme dependent on private investment like in Moonraker?

Silhouette Man

What prompts the question is the following passage taken from Chapter 4 ('Hugo Drax at Home') in Christopher Wood's novelisation of the film he was also the sole scriptwriter for, James Bond and Moonraker (1979):

'I think you only have to look five hundred miles west than the site of its [the Moonraker space shuttle's] disappearance. Russia, Mr Bond!' The false joviality dropped from Drax's voice. A tiny pinpoint of red appeared in his distorted eyes to complement the scarlet flush of his cheek. 'Thanks to our pusillanimous government we have surrendered space to them. Do you realize that I, a private individual, am responsible for nearly forty per cent of the American space programme? It is scandalous, is it not?'
'It sounds a very patriotic gesture,' observed Bond.
'It is not really patriotism,' said Drax nobly. 'I do not believe that one country should be in a position to occupy space as in the old days a colonial nation might have acquired new territory. This is what the Americans are in danger of allowing to happen.' He smiled an ugly smile. 'With their experience of the British, you would think that they would know better.' (James Bond and Moonraker (1979), (Triad/Panther Books, paperback edn, Herts, 1979), pp. 48-49.

Now this passage obviously occurs in the same scene where Bond first meets Drax in the film, though this added dialogue from Wood's novelisation is obviously not present in the film version of Moonraker. There are a few remnants of its private investment backstory in the finished film too, though it is not spelled out quite as explicitly there as it is in the Wood novelisation of the film.

For me, it raises the interesting real world question of whether Drax's claim of being the private individual investing in nearly forty per cent of the US Space Programme was a true statement of fact or just another piece of fiction from Bond's shinier world to explain Drax's involvement with the US Space Programme and most notably the Moonraker space shuttle he has designed and that the US Space Programme is using. When you think about it the original Sir Hugo in Ian Fleming's Moonraker (1955) novel was also a private individual who financed Britain's Moonraker nuclear deterrent rocket out of his own pocket. In fact, it was the very reason for which he received his knighthood from the Queen!

We know that Drax is a philanthropist in the film, but is this fascinating added detail from the film novelisation a true statement of fact, or just a further example of fiction in what was already one of the most outlandish films in the Bond series. As I'm no expert on the US Space Programme, I turn this question over to members here in the hope that someone out there can help me out! Thanks in advance, as always!

superado

It seems that the involvement of non-governmental funding via public private partnerships is a relatively new concept that came about in the past few years and the implication is that previously, NASA was fully funded by the government. In fact, its share of the national budget during the Apollo program (of which my dad had a minor role, whose direct boss was a former Nazi mathematician!) was around 5% I think, which was huge.

Dirty Punker

Isn't Elon Musk doing something very similar? In that he's created a space programme?
A modern day Drax/Graves?

Firemass

Dirty Punker wrote:

Isn't Elon Musk doing something very similar? In that he's created a space programme?
A modern day Drax/Graves?

"Elon Musk is a Bond villain

Here is a composite sketch of Elon Musk and the Bond Villain from Moonraker
Pretty Scary huh?"

http://elonmuskbondvillain.blogspot.com

BruceMurdock

My friend says LeChiffre looks like an evil Elon Musk. )

Gassy Man

Musk essentially built a rocket like the one in You Only Live Twice.