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They had lot less resources and knowledge to estimate the right amount of resilience for achieving the mission goals and erred on the side of cautions.

You can see something similar happening in bridges, weight per meter load has come down considerably since the 60s because material understanding is much more advanced and they meed less margin for the same safety factor.

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Our understanding of physics has also gotten much better, for example our understanding of tensegrity. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurilpa_Bridge

> The Kurilpa Bridge is a multiple-mast, cable-stay structure based on principles of tensegrity producing a synergy between balanced tension and compression components to create a light structure which is incredibly strong.

Delighted to see this here — the Kurilpa Bridge is less than 50 meters from my front door and is something to behold each time I get the chance to use it.

That must be such a treat. As an American, I'd love to visit it one day.

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