Indeed, it's a great article and it makes us think.

Fear was a factor, fear of the Soviet Union's influence.
But about fear of the ignorance of the neighborhood, today, I wonder how leaving LEO could be an answer to it.

adding partners made the international space station program slower, costlier, less capable and more dangerous than going it alone.
Aren't we glad the Russians still use their reliable Soyuz spacecrafts?
And we do learn from their space program, because it is so different from NASA's.

It's true that if a country that used to achieve grand space goals, were to withdraw from them, this would not show well in the pride of those in charge of the country's image and purposes. Fear does count.

Raoul