If NASA can't get through the Van Allen radiation belts safely NOW to go to Mars, how did they do it nearly 50 years ago in a tin can wearing jump suits? What kind of on board computer navigation could they have had when computers were the size of a room? (this was some 30 years BEFORE Windows 3.1) How did they have both audio and video transmit over 240,000 miles clearly and with no significant delay? Why aren't we using that technology today instead of having cell towers everywhere? And we still don't have adequate audio coverage in rural areas let alone video.
This is just one example of questions that can be asked if one thinks beyond what was taught in school. Maybe @trevonjb is the one closer to being right.
NASA can't get past Van Allen belt today:
Real time audio/video Apollo 11: