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Bluestein | 6 months ago

This would be so great - a "changing of the guard" of sorts ...

If only Apollo hadn't lost momentum ...

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ToucanLoucan|6 months ago

I mean it's not so much that they lost momentum as there's just... not a ton of good reasons to go to the moon. It's a long, incredibly dangerous trip and there's just not much there.

Same reason we've never sent people to Mars, it's even more complicated, magnitudes more dangerous, and what exactly are we accomplishing in doing so...? Nothin there.

Larrikin|6 months ago

There are multiple seasons of a really good show called For All Mankind that basically has a rebuttal to your argument for every single decade in history since the first moon landing. You should check it out as it is really well written.

snozolli|6 months ago

George W. Bush called for a permanent moon base back in '04. The primary motivator, from what I recall, was as a launching point for Mars exploration.

https://www.npr.org/2004/01/15/1597182/bush-calls-for-manned...

The timeline is pretty entertaining and a bit depressing, if you wanted to see the plan succeed:

...

By 2014: The first manned mission for the Crew Exploration Vehicle.

By 2015: Astronauts will land on the moon using the Crew Exploration Vehicle.

By 2020: The United States will have established an extended human presence on the moon, using it as a launching pad for other manned exploration missions.

As for why, 1) to ensure the survival of humanity, 2) to drive scientific development and 3) because it's there.

bregma|6 months ago

"We choose NOT to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard."