It is actually more difficult because superpowers are not willing to spend unlimited money just to get ahead (like during Cold War). You can brute force a lot of technical problems by just using money (for example just one big expensive engine like Apollo 11). Nowadays nobody is willing to spend that kind of money for just one mission.
ChrisArchitect 8 hours ago [-]
Discussion:
Private German rocket makes history, reaches orbit from European soil
Spectrum achieved orbit and appeared nominal prior to the second burn.
Viewable at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ss1DUqLjecc
Private German rocket makes history, reaches orbit from European soil
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49580369