I'm pretty sure what something implies is dependent upon the reader's interpretation. And it looks like many readers think it implies that a non-American is about to land on the moon even if you didn't think so.
"I can tell the author's intent because I can" is circular reasoning and is not rational or logical. What that tells me is that you know that the author's intent cannot easily be discerned from a headline other than taking it at face value, but you've been backed into a corner and refuse to admit it.
Yes, so we are talking about a sentence in the headline where we don't have extra context, yet you make an sentence where it is clear the sentence is stupid based on outside context and argue it should be interpreted the other way around because otherwise we know it is stupid. Amazing logic.
Just because I can deduce what you actually meant does not mean the sentence is correct.
Imagine Kennedy gave an amazing speech about "landing an American on the moon" and then sent him up aboard a Russian rocket. I'm guessing most people wouldn't have been like "Well, technically that's accurate. Well done Mr. President."
Ok, but the space agency in charge is...still NASA. These aren't American astronauts doing a ride-along on a Japanese mission, it's literally the opposite.