why haven't we gone back to the moon
For example, the Constellation Program, which took shape under President George W. Bush, was canceled in 2010 by President Barack Obama. On Apollo 11 in route to the Moon, I observed a light out the window that appeared to be moving alongside us. "The Apollo days were not, fundamentally, about going to the moon," John Logsdon, a professor emeritus of political science and international affairs at The George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs in Washington, D.C., told Space.com. Why we put men on the moon is well documented. NASA initially targeted 2028 for the first crewed lunar landing since the Apollo days. It was incubated in a very particular environment, experts say — the Cold War space race with the Soviet Union. And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com. "In terms of the challenge, it's really a fiscal challenge - the amount of money that the nation can afford to spend.". "But getting back to the moon is not trivial, staying on the moon is not trivial, and going on to Mars is even beyond that.". But NASA in February was suddenly pushed to pick up its pace when Vice President Mike Pence announced the goal of putting Americans on the moon again by 2024, four years ahead of the previous schedule. Because is was really, really, really expensive, and because we’ve had no compelling practical reason to return. Now, NASA?s trying to do it again with Constellation, an ambitious project to return humans to the moon by 2020. Visit our corporate site. On December 11, 1972, Apollo 17 touched down on the Moon. But fast forward now 40 plus years 2014 it's absurd to say that we don't have the funding to return back to the moon instead choose to explore deep outer space beyound our solar system when the moon is so much closer and would prove to be less costly an expedition to return. Why we have never been back to the moon since Apollo 17 left in December of 1972? In the years following WWII and during the Cold War, the U.S. and the Soviet Union were in a massive military arms race, with significant gains on both sides. There's been no call to put people down there again. Related: Apollo 11 at 50: A Complete Guide to the Historic Moon Landing. Why a rover? NY 10036. Basically, the shorter the program is, the less time it takes, the less political risk we endure. In addition to the lunar science that can be learned, and the thrill of human exploration, many of the new technologies could have applications on the ground. Thank you for signing up to Space. But President Donald Trump nixed that plan in 2017, putting the agency back on course for the moon. Why a launch vehicle? Why haven't we went back to the Moon yet though? If it is not true the Armstrong saw alien base camps on the Moon, then why doesn’t NASA have plans for a base station on the Moon and there have been no Moon … We need the political will to pull the money together for a mission. So NASA got the resources it needed to pull off its moon shot. We have been to the moon and there is a reason why we have not been back. It's now 2019, and we haven't gone back since. "There are not compelling publicly-held reasons for doing this," Launius said. So NASA got the resources it needed to pull off its moon shot. A QUESTION OF COST. Forty years after astronauts first set foot on the moon, SPACE.com examines what we've done since and whether America has the right stuff to get back to the moon by 2020 and reach beyond. In a way, the Apollo program was all the greater because it had little practical value. Rare supernova relic found at the core of our Milky Way. A fully sustaining farm? The nation launched the first-ever satellite, Sputnik 1, in October 1957 and put the first person in space, Yuri Gagarin, in April 1961. If we had the technology to bring mankind to the moon in 1969, how come we haven’t returned to Earth’s natural satellite recently? The accelerated timeline might actually make this newest moon shot more achievable, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine has said, citing the "political risk" that doomed Constellation and other programs. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook. This wasn't viewed as empty flexing. They properly monitor the life on earth. According to Ian Stevens this alien species has colonized the dark side of the moon. Why haven’t we been back to the Moon? Space is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Buzz Aldrin walks on the surface of the moon near a leg of the lunar module in this photo snapped by fellow Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong. Edit: we don't have the budget, it is unnecessary to send humans to the moon ATM, and moon spiders. NASA has mounted multiple crewed moon projects since Apollo, including the ambitious Constellation Program in the mid-2000s, but none of them have gone the distance. During the mid-1960s, NASA got about 4.5% of the federal budget — 10 times greater than its current share. Why haven't we gone to the moon in over forty years?