Yugoslav space program
How did Vucelic answer Tito from the Yugoslav space program?
After commander Frank Borman and his crew flew around the moon for the first time, NASA astronauts became world stars. This is why the leader of Yugoslavia wanted to meet the American space travelers. Even then, just like today, there were no well-known people from Earth who made sure that everything went well. Even Josip Broz Tito did not know that one of the most important people in Houston at that time was Milojko "Mike" Vucelic from Garesnica.
Frank Borman went on a world tour, and one of the host countries was, of course, Yugoslavia. When Tito received Borman, the first thing he asked him was: - Well, weren't you afraid of flying around the moon? –
Borman replied that he was not afraid at all. He quickly explained: - Your Vucelic was in charge and took care of me from Earth. I had nothing to fear. – Hearing about this successful domestic engineer, Tito, who was fascinated by space and who dreamed of starting a Yugoslav space project, immediately wanted to meet him.
Not long after, he invited Vucelic and his wife to have dinner with him and Jovanka. Like Nixon and Brezhnev, Tito also wanted to try his hand at the space race. He offered Vucelic to return to Yugoslavia. He wanted to come create and lead the space program. Vucelic answered him: - Comrade Tito, do you want Yugoslavia to go bankrupt? - He explained to him that space flights are so expensive that not even America can afford them. This turned Josip Broz away from that idea and the Yugoslav space program was never implemented.