why haven't we been back to the moon?

Question

with all the technology we have today and all the space missions being talked about why haven't we been back to the moon since the 1960's?

Answer 1

It is way too expensive these days....plus the Russians can't play anymore...Putin is out of Rubles. bo

Answer 2

1) Twelve 12 American astronauts have walked on the moon.

Apollo 11: Neil Armstrong & Buzz Aldrin
Apollo 12: Pete Conrad & Alan Bean
Apollo 13: << failed to land on the moon >>
Apollo 14: Alan Shepard & Edgar (Ed) Mitchell
Apollo 15: David Scott & James Irwin
Apollo 16: John Young & Charles Duke
Apollo 17: Eugene (Gene) Cernan & Harrison Schmidt


2) Why haven't we been back?

a) American astronauts visited the moon on six occasions.

b) The "moon race" was an extension of the cold war. It was mostly about national prestige. We got there first and achieved our primary objective. There was some good science: surveys, measurements, sample collection. But it was mostly about being there first. Once we achieved our primary objective, there was no political will to go back. There still isn't. Perhaps, if we discover He3 or something else valuable, there will be.

c) I used to travel to Crested Butte, Colorado every year to ski. Because I don't go anymore, does it mean that I never went?


3) What about the Van Allen radiation belts? Wouldn't it have killed the astronauts?

The existence of the Van Allen radiation belts postulated in the 1940s by Nicholas Christofilos. Their existence was confirmed in *1958* by the Explorer I satellite launched by the USA.

The radiation in the Van Allen radiation belts is not particularly strong. You would have to hang out there for a week or so in order to get radiation sickness. And, because the radiation is not particularly strong, a few millimeters of metal is all that is required for protection. "An object satellite shielded by 3 mm of aluminum will receive about 2500 rem (25 Sv) per *year*."

"In practice, Apollo astronauts who travelled to the moon spent very little time in the belts and received a harmless dose. [6]. Nevertheless NASA deliberately timed Apollo launches, and used lunar transfer orbits that only skirted the edge of the belt over the equator to minimise the radiation." When the astronauts returned to Earth, their dosimeters showed that they had received about as much radiation as a couple of medical X-rays.


4) The U.S. government scammed everyone?

In 1972, there was a politically motivated burglary of a hotel room in the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C. There were only about six or eight people who knew about it. However, those people, including Richard M. Nixon, the President of the United States, failed to keep that burglary a secret. It exploded into a scandal that drove the President and a number of others from office.

If six or eight people couldn't keep a hotel room burglary a secret, then how could literally thousands of people could have kept their mouths shut about six faked moon landings? Not just one moon landing, but six of them!


5) What about the USSR?

Even if NASA and other government agencies could have faked the six moon landings well enough to fool the general public, they could NOT have fooled the space agency or military intelligence types in the USSR. The Soviets were just dying to beat us. If the landings were faked, the Soviets would have re-engineered their N-1 booster and landed on the moon just to prove what liars Americans are. Why didn't they? Because the landings were real and the Soviets knew it.


6) Why does the flag shake? Where are the stars? Who took the video of Neil Armstrong?

On the subject of stars, take a look at the first link. Sorry, but there *are* stars in that photo. For the rest, visit "badastronomy" and "clavius". They deal well with all of the technical questions.


7) Finally, please tell us what you would accept as definitive evidence that the six moon landings were real. Is there anything?

Answer 3

Because Congress won't provide the funding.

Back in the 1970s, when they stopped the lunar filights, the idea was simply to wait until the Space Shuttle could launch the equipment and fuel needed at greatly reduce dcost and more safely. But Congress kept cutting NASA's budget, and we al know about the space shuttle's problems.

Then, in the 1990s the Conress-after it came under Republican control--has killed every advanced spacecraftproposal NASA has tried to get going. The "replacement" for the shuttle is really jsut modified systems from the shuttle program, and an enlarged Apollo type capsule--not a new spacecraft at all.

And--the Bush administration promise of a "return to the moon" is just empty words--the project has never been funded.

Answer 4

Fourteen space organizations from all over the world will gather in Italy this month to discuss further coordination for long-term space exploration efforts.

From 30 May until 1 June, the 3rd Joint ESA/ASI Workshop on International Cooperation for Sustainable Space Exploration will bring together representatives from 14 space organisations worldwide.

The Global Exploration Strategy framework document identifies a common set of exploration themes and values that are common to several possible exploration targets and destinations in our Solar System, including the MOON and Mars

Answer 5

No economically justifiable reason to do so. Moon shots are very expensive, and the government can't justify simple landings like we did in the late 60's - early 70's. We've already learned all we could from those types of missions.

That's why the newer missions are looking at a more ambitious program of establishing a permanent base on the moon.

Answer 6

Easy, the only reason we went to the moon in the first place was because the public wanted to do it. When we went to the moon, it was to prove we had a higher level of technology than the Russians, there was a demand to go to the moon, now, we have explored the moon to the fullest extent, and there's no need to go back. Simple as that.

Answer 7

Why aren't you routinely making transatlantic flights? Why are you not routinely flitting from country to country? The technology clearly exists, and has done for some time.

Answer: because you can't afford it. Same for NASA. If they are not given the money from the Federal Budget, along with the mandate to do it, they ain't going to the Moon. Technology is irrelevant if you ain't got the cash.

Answer 8

Hi. Several craft have explored the Moon mapping out mineral deposits and possibly even water ice. Future manned missions will depend on this data.

Answer 9

To expensive, and a lack of public will. It will happen though. If nothing else we are getting to the point the cost of space travel is coming down to were big companies can begin to dabble. First space tourism, then space mining and industry. By the time NASA gets to Mars they'll be greeted by billionaire vacationers.

Answer 10

The trips to the moon, besides being all about cold war , were also a trend in their days. Now because of lack of interest and reason, there is less $$ for that purpose.

Answer 11

For the same reason we quit going in the early 1970's......
Are you, as a taxpayer, willing to support missions to the moon that don't have a real purpose and aren't going to find anything new? That's foolish, and that's why we quit going, and we'd be foolish to return. It'd be a waste and would cost congressmen their seats.