It's been said that the universe is made up of stories, not of atoms. That seems crazy, yet any appealing reassurance of reductionism inevitably fails while imagination goes on like a pink bunny with a big drum. (See?) Physical sciences are nowhere near any actual indivisible unit of reality beyond which they reveal elephants all the way down. Stories also have the advantage of facility and timelessness, whereas technology with roots in complexity entangles many unable to integrate the wider view.
Forty years after the Apollo missions, they remain the nearest (if not preeminent) historical nexus of our kind. The space race, proxy of the Cold War, was coming around the final corner. The best resource from all sides was placed on the problem, and in a far better triumph of the will we as a kind reached out to touch another world. And yet there's more to it than just ordered atoms and harnessed math. The pioneers that made the first trip did so surrounded by fresh technology and timeworn mathematics but their impressions of the experience went transmitted by the far older, much deeper domain of the story.
They could have said anything, or nothing. They could have described the remarkably detailed scenes of their journey. They could have relayed the grandeur of a new, unseen half of the moon. Instead they went to a classic. The origin story found in Genesis rests at the foundation of belief for billions of their fellow humans. (And they spoke in English. I thought I dreamed hearing it.)
No matter the belief system (even the one that claims no belief system!) the practitioners are effective in proportion to the underlying merit of the system. Even an unconvinced cynic must consider that no matter why one gets the right answer, the right answer works. Such an important transition comes as much a comfort to the aware as it is an unpleasant shock to those who deny it. (Exposed seeking to allay inadequacies, they go dismissed into frightful demise and nameless, fiery interment.)
They also say the proof is in the pudding. The purpose of space is to peacefully unite the earth, beginning at this highlighted historical page before developing into a global tale. Despite unconstructive periods, certain moments do arrive to improve the world. Time allows us but of a few of these moments, so it's a real blessing to not only appreciate them during the experience but also accept their significance at the same time. Certainly makes for a better story!