GOING TO THE MOON IS EXPENSIVE
The planetary society claims that NASA's budget peaked at over $58 billion (adjusted to 2022 dollars) in the middle of the 1960s, as the technology to send men to the moon was being developed. After the first moon landing in 1970, its budget nearly fell to $30 billion. From 1960 to 1973, NASA spent over $250 billion on the apollo program alone
And NASA didn't just want to study the moon. NASA used the rocket that was designed to take us to the moon one year after we left the moon for the last time to launch the United States' first space station. Additionally, preparations for the space shuttle program had already begun in 1969
POTENTIAL POLITICAL PERILS
Not only was going to the moon expensive financially, but it could also be expensive politically. Congress sets NASA's budget, and the fact that going to the moon costs billions of dollars is hard to sell to constituents. Nor is the deficiency of human existence Contrary to popular belief, there was never a lot of public enthusiasm for going to the moon, and President Richard Nixon was prepared to deliver a speech in mourning the loss of Apollo 11 in the face of a potential disaster.
The Apollo program almost stopped after the Apollo 1 disaster. Only once did public support for lunar exploration rise above 50 percent, according to historical polls. After the Eagle lander landed in 1969, support for the Apollo program reached its highest point at 53%. According to polls, Americans will only support the space program if they don't have to pay for it. It's no surprise that NASA has used its limited budget and political clout on unmanned missions and sending humans to the relatively safe confines of the International Space Station in low-Earth orbit, despite only accounting for about 4% of the national budget at its peak in 1964.
The majority of people incorrectly estimate that NASA's funding accounts for more than 20% of the national budget. The public believes that it is too expensive, and the need for the political symbolism of being the first person to walk on the moon has long
A POTENTIAL RETURN
It's hard, expensive, and not always popular to go to the moon. Despite this, political capital has been spent to launch the Artemis program by three different presidential administrations. Artemis, also known as Apollo's sister, was launched in 2017 by President Trump and aims to send humans back to the moon by 2026.
The Space Launch System rocket, which will carry the next generation of explorers to the moon and is the most powerful ever built, is currently being tested by NASA. The unmanned Artemis 1 mission will launch in August and serve as a practice run for the crewed Artemis 2 mission in 2024. In 2026, two people are expected to be landed on the moon by Artemis 3, but these missions still have a long way to go.
According to Ars Technica, NASA is still testing the SLS rocket needed to get to the moon, and The Verge reports that delays in the design of space suits have pushed the dates even further back. Yet, assuming all goes to design, NASA won't simply have sent people back to the moon, they will have laid out semi-extremely durable designs on the lunar surface and in lunar circle to work with future monitored lunar investigation
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