"By the time of the fire, a mere 35 months remained in the decade

"By the time of the fire, a mere 35 months remained in the decade. The highest any human had flown was 850 miles, yet the moon was 240,000 miles away. NASA didnt yet have a rocket to get there, its spacecraft had just caught fire, and the work-in-progress lunar lander had not yet been tested in space."