For the past four and a half decades, no one
has visited the moon.
December 14th, 1972, was the last time humans
walked its surface.
So, why did we stop going to the Moon?
Well, from the first moon landing in 1969,
to the last one in 1972, only 12 people have
walked on the Moon.
The astronauts, and even one geologist, studied
its surface, planted measuring equipment,
brought back moon rocks, and stuck a flag
in the ground.
While that may not sound like much, originally
the space program was an enormous deal.
The buildup to Apollo was against the backdrop
of the highly charged Cold War, the most visible
marker of which was the Space Race with the
Soviet Union.
But while the landing changed the world forever,
enthusiasm for the space program almost immediately
collapsed with the goal having been completed.
Many in the US believed that the relatively
symbolic mission was unreasonably expensive.
NASA’s budget at its peak in 1966 covered
nearly 4.5% of the US’s total federal budget,
or more than 40 billion dollars in today’s
terms.
In fact, although there had been 3 more Apollo
missions planned, they were scrapped in favor
of launching Skylab, NASA’s first space
station.
In the years to follow, the benefit of space
stations and the huge amount of cooperation
between countries in trying to establish the
International Space Station by the late 90s,
effectively eliminated interest in actually
having people on the moon.
In fact, since 1972, no human has even left
low earth orbit, much less reached the moon.
Plus, by 1973, the Saturn V rocket, which
was the only one able to produce enough power
to make the trip to another celestial body,
was retired.
But in the mid 2000s, the idea of going back
to the moon was reintroduced with the NASA
Authorization Act of 2005.
This time, the plan wasn’t just to stop
by, the Act established a framework for NASA
to “develop a sustained human presence on
the Moon... to promote exploration, science,
commerce and US preeminence in space.”
This resulted in the highly anticipated Constellation
program, and the creation of new rockets that
would rival the Saturn V.
Sadly, just three years after Constellation
was started, the global economic crisis hit.
By 2010, the Obama administration announced
that the program was "over budget, behind
schedule, and lacking in innovation", and
Constellation was officially defunded, along
with a large portion of NASA.
While the organization once comprised nearly
4.5% of the federal budget, by 2011 they were
only allocated less than half of one percent.
In 2013, NASA’s chief Administrator stated
that they would not put humans on the moon
in his lifetime, although NASA does expect
to send people into Mars orbit by the 2030s.
But that doesn’t rule out the idea completely.
Although NASA is unwilling to invest in another
trip, Russia, China, Japan and the European
Space Agency have all aimed to send their
own astronauts to the moon, with the ESA hoping
to establish a moon base within 25 years.
So while it likely won’t be Americans, the
moon may just see a human presence in the
relatively near future.
