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.