Replying to next comment in sequence here because of comment tree limit.
"I don't know, did humans have the technology to pass, unharmed through the Van Allen Belt in 1969?"
There wasn't any technology necessary, they just went. NASA decided not to even really try to protect the astronauts. They went around the inner belts and went quickly through the outer belts, dosimetry didn't indicate significantly large exposure to the charged particles for the astronauts (significant being greater than 5 rads). I guess had they orbited in the outer belts they would have had an issue, but they didn't do that.
That sounds like a plausible explanation but I still can't believe something just because I saw it on TV and I was taught it in school, without seriously hard evidence and sadly that seems to be lacking in many areas.