What will the measurable effect be?
It seems that no one thought to measure the effect of past iconic projects and so no correlation appears to exist. There is however a really interesting circumstantial comparison between the number of PHDs issued and the US manned space programme of 1961-72. During this time the number of PHDs issued increased from 12,000 to 30,000 per annum, falling off in 1972 which coincided with the Apollo 19 last moon shot. Physics PHDs rose from 600 to 1500 annually in the same period. It must be stressed that this a circumstantial comparison and there may be a great number of additional factors involved.
