"What makes those birds go up? Funding makes those birds go up, No bucks$$, No buck rogers". (1983) Right Stuff
If the Marrs Mission had been scrubbed, no more funding. If the men die as martyrs for the cause.??
Apollo 13 crisis, created a fake scenario that made it seem more real, the threat of no return of the crew. People had already lost interest in Apollo, some folks disbelieved that the missions were even real. NASA needed the trillions of dollars for what they really had up their sleeve. Anti gravity research without telling everyone what they were really up to. Congress never questioned what they were up to either.
APOLLO FILM FOOTAGE: Big one's Stanley Kubrick, really BIG ONES!!

I wondered that myself, but a lot of movies make no sense.