Go to apod.nasa.gov and go to July 9th, there is a great picture there. I would post it but I'm on my iPhone. I love this site, there are amazing pictures.
The smartest people in the country used to work at NASA and tons of technology that we now take for granted came from them and the military.
i mean, when the apollo had a problem, the guys at NASA made a carbon dioxide filter out of a sock, a bo, a hose and some tape. If they had more resources, they could have done even greater things.