The real Propaganda was not NASA/media, or even CIA manipulators directly. They derived through Hollywood, of course:
this message may have been transmitted most effectively not by NASA or by any other part of the US government but by a wildly successful television sitcom; “I Dream of Jeannie” The adventures of an astronaut and his wacky Baghdad-born Jeannie not only presented a weirdly reassuring vision of NASA and of the US to the world, but helped to humanize the whole process. The show was dubbed into many foreign languages and broadcast worldwide.
It is suitable therefore for all of us to remember that forty years ago, a couple of weeks before Apollo 11 lifted off, Barbara Eden, the actress who played Jeannie, gave Buzz Aldrin a 'bon voyage' kiss. In that moment two mighty aspects of America’s soft power briefly touched one another.