Why Did We Stop Going To The Moon? | Unveiled XL Documentary

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Why Did We Stop Going to the Moon?</h4>

Today, there’s a massive surge in moon-related activity. NASA is busy with the Artemis Program. India’s ISRO is planning its first crewed mission to the lunar surface. China and Russia are also in the race. And then there are the private companies, bidding to disrupt (and dismantle) the status quo. But, underpinning it all, there’s something of a mystery. Because, while the Apollo missions in the ‘60s and ‘70s delivered some iconic moments, why did the moon landings suddenly end?

This is Unveiled, and today we’re answering the extraordinary question; why did we stop going to the moon? But also, how are we planning to return?

In July 1969, history was made when the United States became the first country to put a man on the moon. Then, in December 1972, history was made again when the US became the last country to put a man on the moon, as the Apollo program was canceled early following Apollo 17. But what’s the reason we abandoned the moon in the 70s, never to return?

The most immediate and understandable reason we’ve not gone back to the moon since the early 70s is that the United States government slashed NASA’s federal budget rendering the agency unable to carry out expensive, dangerous space missions. The Apollo program alone cost, at the time, $25.8 billion; when adjusted for inflation, that’s almost $260 billion. After the US won the Space Race, the Soviet Union more or less stopped trying to compete - despite an early lead putting the first satellite in space, the first man in space, and sending probes to the far side of the moon and even Venus. By the late 60s the Soviet space program’s visionary engineer Sergei Korolev had died. Without Korolev to push for the space program, the Soviet government also cut funding, and without the motivator of Cold War competition, the US didn’t see the point in continuing to go to the moon. After all, at the time there was no way to get any return investment from it – in a lot of ways, the journey to the moon was seen as a money pit, despite the public support for space exploration.

But in 2017, the US announced its intention to return to the moon. This time, the aim will be to put the first woman up there. However, that doesn’t guarantee that the program will necessarily make its proposed lunar flights in the mid-2020s. After all, there already was a lunar return project in the 2000s called Constellation. It was canceled by Obama in 2010 for being too expensive. If it hadn’t been canceled, we might have already sent people back to the moon since it was eyeing a 2020 landing date. But if we already have the technology to go to the moon because we already did it multiple times in the 1960s and 70s, why is it taking so many years and costing so much money to plan programs like Constellation and Artemis? The Apollo program was only launched in 1961, just eight years before the moon landing.

Well, the simple truth is that we seem to have lost a lot of the technology and knowledge we used to go to the moon in the twentieth century. While it’s baffling to imagine that this could be the case, NASA in the wake of the 1972 budget cut was a different place, and it just wasn’t able to preserve everything from the program. NASA’s already come under fire before for not preserving vital things, specifically, the raw footage of the moon landing, which was taped over! Of course, we do still have lots of footage of the moon landing because we have what was broadcast on live TV at the time. But the footage that was lost is the unprocessed, low-framerate feed that wasn’t suitable for broadcast. It’s not just those tapes, though; everything that came together to make the moon landing happen doesn’t really exist anymore. We might have blueprints and schematics for lunar modules and rockets, but we don’t have the experts who made those blueprints into a physical spacecraft capable of landing people on our nearest celestial neighbor. Hundreds of thousands of people worked on the program, all of them exceptional engineers, designers, and physicists. Without those very same people, we’re not able to get to the moon in the same way we did in the 60s.

In fact, we don’t even have access to the same building materials because, after the budget cut, factories making unique components for space missions shut down. So we don’t have that knowledge, either. We’ve lost the technology we used because it was so monumentally complex, and that’s despite how much information about lunar technology is available in books and online – and has been for decades. Though you can try to write down as much as possible, there are always going to be things that go unwritten, small modifications or calculations that were vital to the success of the mission but which have just been lost to time. That’s why we can’t just rebuild all the lunar modules and the Saturn V rocket exactly as they existed in 1969 and set off to the moon again.

Interestingly though, people have attempted to reconstruct that equipment, specifically the enormous F-1 engine present inside the Saturn V rocket. Over 360 feet tall, it’s remained the largest and most powerful rocket ever used. In the 2010s, there were efforts to rebuild an F-1 engine, which hadn’t been used since 1973, so that they could rediscover the technology and hopefully use it in the development of future launch systems. A group of young NASA engineers worked tirelessly to recreate the engine using materials and information they could scrounge from archives and museums. Rediscovering this technology could help NASA save money in the future of space exploration, as the F-1 engine – despite being absolutely huge – is a simple enough design. But it was still an extremely difficult task to pull off, even with a component belonging to the Saturn V, one of the most famous launch vehicles in the world and possibly the one most integral to human space exploration.

There are yet other reasons not only why we can’t use technology recycled from Apollo, but why it’s probably better that we don’t. In the twenty-first century, there’s a huge focus on sustainability and the environment; giant, single-use rockets are bad for both of these things, hence the recent push towards reusable vehicles. Where reusable vehicles are concerned, SpaceX has the lead with the Falcon 9, and other private companies including Virgin and Blue Origin are working on various modules and components that will be good for multiple uses. NASA is doing the exact same thing and wants reusable components for Artemis. We also have better technology now than we used to and have done significantly more research into space even without going into the moon; simply put, with enough time, we can do everything the Apollo program did but better. Artemis is already budgeted to be far cheaper than Apollo, with a $35 billion price tag. Artemis will also have the support of other leading space agencies, like the European Space Agency and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, as well as using equipment from SpaceX. So it has the backing of a tremendous amount of research and money. Even if we did still have access to Apollo’s technology right now, it just wouldn’t be fit for purpose anymore because we’ve come such a long way.

Upsetting as it might be to think that the machines and people that got us to the moon aren’t here anymore, no knowledge is truly immortal. Everything is at risk of being lost in some way, either because it gets destroyed or because it’s something deemed to be so simple at the time that it was never written down. A prime example of this is Roman concrete, which is extremely sturdy and enduring. But for years, we didn’t understand why the concrete was so good or why we’d failed at recreating it; it was finally discovered that the secret to the concrete is simple seawater and volcanic ash. Another long-lost mystery is how Damascus steel, which contains carbon nanotubes, was forged in the Middle East hundreds of years ago. Some researchers believe they have solved this mystery, but to many, it’s still up for debate.

There’s one final piece of the puzzle for why we don’t just go back to the moon: it’s hard. Sending humans to the moon and bringing them back is perhaps the most difficult and ambitious scientific endeavor ever undertaken. Of the many space agencies that now exist, NASA remains the only one to have sent people to walk on the moon. Even the China National Space Administration, the agency with the second-largest budget, isn’t any closer to accomplishing the feat.

Though 12 men walked on the moon between 1969 and 1972, we no longer have the complete knowledge of how that happened, which is why we’re developing newer, better ways to go back to the lunar surface in the 2020s. And that’s the real reason we haven’t returned to the moon.

As the closest astronomical object to Earth, the Moon is one of the few celestial bodies that’s visible with the naked eye. It has enthralled humankind for as long as we’ve been a cognitive species. And yet, despite thousands of years of observation, we’re far from uncovering all its secrets.

Formed out of a collection of space debris most likely created by a collision between Earth and a protoplanet some 4.5 billion years ago, the Moon (like the Earth) has been subject to a bombardment of asteroid and meteorite crashes throughout its lifetime. Unlike the Earth, however - which has processes such as erosion, plate tectonics, and volcanism to continually refresh itself - the Moon has no way of repairing its many collision sites. It’s effectively frozen in time, and the craters we see on its face today are the remnants of a tumultuous past dating back billions of years.

There are parts of that past that we can chart with confidence, but others that we’re still not sure about. Throughout human history, the Moon has been observed as a method of keeping time, worshiped as a deity across numerous civilizations, and even seen as a source of prophecy. But still, even after millennia of human analyses, centuries of astronomical observations, and six crewed lunar landings, there are some ultra-mysterious craters, etched deep into the surface, that we still can’t explain.

The first is the South-Pole Aitken Basin, which is the oldest and largest crater on the Moon, and one of the largest known craters in the solar system. Being approximately 1,500 miles wide and 5 miles deep, it stretches far across the lunar surface… and, broadly speaking, we do know how it got there. It’s the product of a massive asteroid collision around 4 billion years ago. But, because the South-Pole Aitken Basin is located on the far side of the Moon, it’s only been observable to us since the earliest probes were sent that way in the early 1960s. For most humans who aren’t trained astronomers, it’s totally hidden from Earth… although it continues to throw up mysteries for science to unpick. Such as in 2019, when a sizeable, unexplained mass was detected beneath it.

Peter B. James is a professor of planetary science and geophysics at Baylor University, in the US. In his study, “Deep Structure of the Lunar South Pole-Aitken Basin”, he analyzed data from two key NASA moon missions - including the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter - to reveal a massive, seemingly metal mass, reportedly five times the size of Hawaii… and apparently suspended in the lunar mantle beneath the crater.

While scientists are unsure what the mysterious mass is, there are two main theories about its origins and structure. The first is based on the Lunar Magma Ocean Solidification theory, which says that the early Moon was once host to fiery seas of magma… that have since dried up, leaving only their remnants on the face of the moon in the form of the dark spots that we can see from Earth today. As for the mass detected by Peter James, it’s suggested that it is also an immense collection of dense oxides, deposited at the same moment in lunar history, during the cooling process of the magma oceans. 

It’s a strong theory, but the prevailing theory at present suggests something else; that the South-Pole Aitken Basin mass is actually a leftover material from the asteroid that caused it to form in the first place. An ancient asteroid, its iron-nickel core has somehow been prevented from sinking into the Moon's inner core, and so it has been eerily preserved, suspended in the lunar mantle for all this time.

Not every crater is afforded such longevity, however, as shown by today’s second example. In 1824, the German astronomer and cartographer Wilhelm Lohrmann published a series of lunar maps, appropriately titled; "Topography of the Visible Surface of the Moon”. While these maps are still today celebrated for their accuracy, there’s one crater depicted in them that has triggered controversy ever since.

When observing one of the Moon's youngest craters, located in the Sea of Serenity, Lohrmann noted that what he called the Linné Crater was about 5 miles across. This description was then supported by Lohrmann’s fellow astronomers, Wilhelm Beer and Johann Mädler, who published their own maps thirteen years later, in 1837. And so, the Linné Crater remained unchanged for a further three decades, until a fresh series of observations carried out in 1866, by one Johann Friedrich Julius Schmidt.

Like his contemporaries, Schmidt had previously drawn many maps of the Linné Crater, always finding it the same (or extremely similar) to Lohrmann’s original. When he re-observed it in 1866, though, he noticed that the hole was gone. In the place where it should have been there was now a simple white patch, with a small mountain in the center… that had seemingly shot up in less than thirty years. Schmidt’s discovery caused interest in the disappearing crater to skyrocket.

There followed a series of investigations by the top astronomers of the time, and it was a Father Angelo Secchi of Rome who ultimately realized that the “mountain” noted by Schmidt was actually a tiny crater itself, about one-and-a-half miles across - and much smaller than Lohrmann’s original. So now, while science had shown that the Linné Crater hadn't disappeared, it was widely agreed that it had shrunk. So, what had caused such a sudden change?

At the time, it was generally believed that it was a result of lunar volcanism… although modern astronomers tend to reject this theory, despite there still being precious few alternatives out there. The leading counter theory is that the differing observations - between Lohrmann in 1824 and Schmidt in 1866 - were simply due to the telescope limitations that both were working with. The argument against that, however, is that the Linné Crater is easily distinguished, without any other landmarks nearby to distract from it. It seems unlikely, then, that so many experienced and esteemed astronomers would have continually made the same mistakes. And so, the true nature of the Linné Crater's metamorphosis remains a mystery.

Finally, we’re heading to the north-western region of the near side of the Moon, and to the 25-mile-wide Aristarchus Crater, famous amongst moon watchers as being the brightest spot on the lunar surface. It’s also considered one of the most geologically complex regions of the moon, and it’s known for emitting a high concentration of generally baffling light activity.

Over the centuries, astronomers have witnessed hundreds of unexplained, sporadic flashes of light across the moon. They’re collectively known as Transient Lunar Phenomena, but the Aristarchus Crater is where so many of them appear to originate. The first documented sightings date back to the 1500s… but it wasn't until 1650 that the Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius could use the still relatively new invention of the telescope to more accurately observe where the illuminance was coming from. And, since then, it’s been all eyes on Aristarchus.

Significantly, Hevelius also noted that the region inside the crater appeared mountainous. Then, when Britain’s William Herschel observed lights omitting from the same crater and mountains more than a century later, in the 1700s, he concluded that what Hevelius had truly observed were volcanoes… suggesting that the flashing lights of Aristarchus doubled up as a display of lunar volcanism. But, again, the claims of volcanic activity on the lunar surface are widely unsupported by modern science. Today we know that, while there are volcanoes present on the Moon, they’ve been dormant for millions of years.

As a result, the Transient Lunar Phenomena omitting from Aristarchus is something which continues to baffle scientists. Perhaps the closest we came to discovering the true source of these glowing lights came back in July of 1969, when the Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong also noted an odd luminescence coming from the crater. Unfortunately, he had… other plans… and couldn’t make an unscheduled landing on his way to Tranquillity Base. All of which means that the mystery remains unexplained.

For many, we may never reveal the true nature of these particular lunar features until we do visit them in person. What’s really hiding beneath the South Pole-Aitken Basin? What’s really happening with the Linne Crater’s changing size? And why on Earth are there flashing lights coming from Aristarchus? Ultimately, the answers are not of this Earth… but they are looking down on us. And those are three unexplained craters found on the moon.

Though the moon has been watching us stoically for billions of years, there are still plenty of things we don’t know about it. We don’t really know for sure how it formed, where it came from, and we especially know very little about its dark side. What mysteries are waiting to be solved on this hidden hemisphere?

Firstly, the name “dark side of the moon” is actually inaccurate, despite being widely popularized by Pink Floyd’s most famous and influential album. The name scientists use for the moon’s other hemisphere is “FAR side of the moon”, because it’s not any darker than the side we can actually see. Just like the near side, it still gets plenty of sunlight. In fact, when Earth has a new moon, if you were in space on the opposite side, you’d be seeing a full moon as the entire hemisphere would be illuminated by the sun. But it’s still dark in a more abstract sense. It’s mysterious and still very unknown because of how difficult it is to actually get there. Human eyes hadn’t seen the far side of the moon at all until the Soviet Luna 3 probe photographed it in 1959, images that remain distorted and difficult to parse. And it wasn’t until Apollo 8 almost a decade later that humans saw it in person, a privilege that’s been afforded to very few even today.

When people first saw the far side of the moon, they were struck by how much more pockmarked it was compared to the near side. The near side of the moon does have a lot of craters, but it also has huge, gray regions called “lunar maria” or “mare”. These areas are so pronounced that you can easily see them with the naked eye when you’re looking at the moon on an ordinary night, and indeed, they were named thousands of years ago by the Romans who could see them just like we can today. The name “mare” is actually Latin for “sea”, the same root that we get words like “maritime” from. It was believed that these gray expanses were actual seas. 

In a sense, this was correct, but not in the way that Romans thought; the maria are huge fields of ancient lava, some dating back billions of years to the formation of the Earth-Moon system. When the moon formed, the near side was exposed to heat from the Earth, which was still extremely hot. This resulted in a thinner crust on the near side, with more aluminum and calcium condensing in the atmosphere of the cooler far side. And this is why the near side has fewer visible impact craters. It’s not that there were fewer asteroid impacts, but that the near side has had more volcanic activity and those craters are filled by volcanic flows. The far side’s thicker, less malleable crust has prevented maria, so we can see billions of years’ worth of impact craters there. Though the maria are extremely old, the moon is constantly getting barraged by meteors, just like Earth. In both cases, most meteors are small, but there’s always the chance that there will be a large impact event.

But one popular theory about the far side of the moon isn’t about these many impact craters at all. According to some, the far side of the moon is the best place in the solar system for aliens to spy on us without being detected. The moon itself blocks radio waves, meaning that if aliens were living there and producing radio signals, we wouldn’t be able to detect them. Since the moon is so inhospitable, any race trying to survive there would have to be very advanced, and so would almost certainly be using radio waves in some way or another. It's also totally invisible to humans on Earth because of the way the moon is tidally locked. There is simply no way we could ever see the far side of the moon from Earth without using a lot of complex equipment. 

However, the same thing that makes it so difficult for us to detect alien life on the moon would also make it very difficult for them to spy on us in the first place. So it wouldn’t necessarily be a great base of operations. Still, this hasn’t stopped conspiracy theorists from trying to find strange structures in images of the far side of the moon over the years, going as far as to suggest there are “castles” and other buildings present on the surface. In 2020 they claimed such structures were even visible in official images released by NASA.

Because the moon blocks radio signals, there’s only one way to communicate with objects on the far side of the moon from Earth: a relay satellite. Currently, there is only one relay satellite serving this function, the Chinese satellite Queqiao. Queqiao was designed to be a relay between the Chang’e 4 lunar lander and Yutu-2 rover, which landed on the far side of the moon in early 2019. Without Queqiao, we would have no way to get any of the data the rover is sending back to Earth, and if we ever want to further explore the far side of the moon, we would need more of these satellites. Otherwise, the people there would be utterly stranded with no way to communicate with Earth, which obviously isn’t ideal. If aliens were hiding over there, they would also need relay satellites to spy on us, if that’s what they’re doing. But in that case, we should have been able to detect these satellites by now. 

Satellites are notoriously difficult to hide, for multiple reasons, but the main reason is simply that you can see them. Some satellites you don’t even need a telescope to spot, just a pair of binoculars. During the Cold War, scientists spent years trying to develop satellites that can’t be detected on radar to little avail. Even if you make them as camouflaged as possible, you still have the problem of infrared radiation. They produce a lot of heat and this makes them very easy to spot if you have specialist instruments. Admittedly, if aliens were living on the moon and had spy satellites, they could feasibly have used technologies unknown to us to disguise them. 

However, this simple act of blocking out radio communications may be a reason why it’s more interesting to look at what DOESN’T happen on the far side of the moon, rather than what does. Because it’s a radio dead zone that doesn’t get any radio signals from Earth beyond the Queqiao satellite, it’s the perfect spot to build a radio telescope. The idea of building a radio telescope on the moon has been floated many times over the years, with NASA itself proposing such an idea as recently as 2020. This particular plan is called the Lunar Crater Radio Telescope, or LCRT, and it would be built in an impact crater on the far side of the moon. NASA plans to build the LCRT using rovers and other robots, so that we don’t need to send a manned mission out there to undertake grueling, lunar construction work. But it’s not exactly gotten off the ground yet. As of writing, it’s still in the proposal stage. If we could get together the funding to put a radio telescope on the moon, there’s no telling what we would be able to find, and we wouldn’t have to worry about Earth interference.

For instance, the famous Wow! Signal, detected in 1977, has widely been reported as potential evidence of intelligent, alien life trying to communicate. But many have suggested that the Wow! Signal didn’t come from outer space at all, but from somewhere on Earth. This isn’t a popular theory and it is generally accepted that the Wow! Signal did come from space, even if it’s unlikely that it was an alien communication. But it does go to show just how tricky detecting alien radio signals is with so much white noise coming from Earth. By building the LCRT or any other radio telescope on the far side of the moon, we’d be one step closer to detecting aliens. The moon’s potential as an alien detector is one big reason why the SETI Institute actually advocates against sending missions to the far side of the moon. For example, it objected to China’s Chang’e 4 mission on the basis that it would create too much radio noise there.

The far side of the moon is the most unfamiliar part of our closest celestial neighbor, and we still have a lot to learn about what goes on there. Perhaps one day in the future we could use it to our advantage… but, until then, it’s a solar system location that’s relatively close to us, and yet one that will remain shrouded in mystery to a certain degree. The theories are sure to continue, and the intrigue is sure to remain, because that’s what really happens on the dark side of the moon.

Humanity has dreamed of living on other planets for years. Before we can do that, however, we need to learn more about living on extraterrestrial surfaces. Our neighbor satellite the moon seems the perfect place to practice. Science fiction often portrays moon bases as massive dome structures and settlements teeming with aliens, but what would it actually be like?

We live in a time where science is beginning to resemble what was once science fiction. We have robots capable of advanced thought and movement, printers capable of creating 3D objects, and yes - we even have missions to establish lunar outposts. NASA’s Artemis program plans to establish a space station called the Lunar Gateway and a Human Landing System on the surface. The Lunar Gateway will act as a waypoint, easing travel and facilitating construction. China has similar ambitions and aspires to build a base near the moon’s south pole within the next ten years. The newest lunar race is due to the fact that our moon provides a good training ground before we attempt to colonize Mars. The moon is only a 3 day trip from home, so if anything goes wrong, it will be much easier to fix. It’s looking more and more like we’ll have real-life moon bases within the next decade. 

Though the initial moon settlers will be astronauts and scientists, it’s only a matter of time before tourists are allowed to visit and even live there. Private companies such as Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic, and Space Adventures, all have plans to jump on the tourism industry and take people to space. With private companies looking into it, we’ll soon have faster and more efficient ways of getting to the moon. 

What would lunar bases actually look like? Any base will have to be layered for protection, as the moon’s surface offers a variety of challenges. Temperature, radiation, and potential meteorite impacts are all constant threats that could spell ruin. To combat these conditions, early settlers will likely dig out dens beneath lunar craters. Robotic rovers will assist in covering these dens with moon rocks and dust for extra protection. This option provides a much safer way to live than by constructing large domes because domes are susceptible to being pummeled with meteorites that frequent the moon’s surface; it’s hit daily by 6,172 pounds of space rock. Many meteorites also strike Earth, but our atmosphere burns most up before they can reach the surface. In time, we may build strong enough domes or structures to live in, and SpaceX wants to eventually build a rocket base on the moon for easier take off. But in the early days we’ll be digging underground to avoid the unforgiving conditions. 

We’ll also need access to food and water in our crater bases. Our food will likely come in two varieties -  imported from Earth, and grown on the moon’s surface. Learning to grow food in harsh conditions will be an important step to cultivating food on Mars and other planets. Lunar soil is difficult to farm with, but researchers have had some success in growing tomatoes, quinoa, peas, and radishes - so these could be a staple of lunar meals. The moon is close enough to shuttle up food if the need arises as well, so lunar settlers will also receive care packages from Earth to vary their food intake. Water, however, will mostly be mined from the moon itself to avoid the costs of delivering it via shuttle. In addition to the plans of transforming lunar water into rocket fuel, we’ll likely use the rest to drink. Foraging water will also be an essential task on Mars and any other planet, so we’ll need to be well-practiced. Since there’s no water cycle on the moon, we’ll have to manually recycle the water in our urine, sweat, and showers to purify for drinking again - a process astronauts perform regularly.  

Daily leisure time will play an important role in maintaining a stable mental condition in such a foreign environment. Astronauts have access to TV on the International Space Station via their laptops, which NASA can send shows to; there’s a likelihood of it being available on the moon as well. However, television will likely take a backseat to other recreational activities, once they become options. The moon is going to have a need for vehicles that can transport supplies and materials around, and eventually, a taxi service is likely to pop up for tourists to take them to iconic locations. These vehicles will be built to travel on the moon with ease and provide comfort for the riders inside. Popular tourist attractions might include the poles, where water is being mined; or to the site of the first Apollo 11 landing. Spacewalking could also be hugely popular, but might die down as people get used to the low gravity and the ways to walk in it. 

Walking in low gravity won’t be the only thing that people living on the moon will have to deal with on a daily basis. Spacesuits will also be required at all times outside of their homes or bases, and this will be a nuisance for many. Current spacesuits take an average time of about 45 minutes to fully don, and another hour of simply breathing in the pure oxygen to allow the body to adapt to the low-pressure environment. People will likely plan their days out so that they have to change into or out of their spacesuits as few times as possible. Every time they re-enter or leave buildings, they’ll need to go through an airlock instead of just turning a doorknob. Moon days will also take some getting used to, as one lunar day is equal to 29.5 Earth days. That means that day and night both last for about two weeks each, and moon settlers will have to learn how to live in constant darkness and light.

As for employment on the moon, many lunar residents will be engineers and scientists for companies like SpaceX or NASA. Other people might make a living by operating the rovers that take supplies back and forth or by transporting people to popular sights or launch pads. 

Though this may sound like the far future, lunar stations are close to becoming reality. After researchers set up permanent bases on the moon and learn how to live in them, it’s only a matter of time before space tourists pay money to visit the surface too. Eventually, it may even be possible to live on the moon permanently, much like those who plan to go to Mars and never return. It will be a very different experience than living anywhere on Earth, and it will be exciting and awe inspiring to see our own home planet from above in all of its glory. Relaxing and simply watching the Earth might be a popular activity - as people point out the locations they once called home. And that’s what Living on the Moon in Real Life will be like. 

So what’s your verdict? let  us know in the comments! Do you think there are good reasons why we haven’t been to the moon since 1972? Or are you frustrated by the lack of progress? In your opinion, is there anything concerning about the variously unexplained craters? Or about what could be happening on the infamous dark side? And finally, if we ever do get to live on the moon, will you be the first (or last) in line to go there?

Because, for now, that’s why we stopped going to the moon… but also how we should soon be returning!