What might have happened if congress had not become involved in modern-day concerns, such as space exploration?

It is impossible to know what would have happened if Congress had not become involved in modern-day concerns such as space exploration. However, we can make some educated guesses. If Congress had not gotten involved in space exploration, the institutions at the forefront of it would have had no funding. This means that they would most likely not exist. Even if they received private funding, this would have been unlikely to match the investments that the government has made. Therefore, the United States would probably not have been at the forefront of space exploration.