the last time people walked on the moon was in 1972.
2007-12-15 09:28:13 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Budget cuts and lack of public interest forced NASA to dicontinue the manned lunar landings. Focus was shifted towards unmanned probes and space stations. It is only renewed interest in manned missions to Mars that have required NASA to build permanent moonbases as launching points for the Mars missions that require the return to the Moon.
2007-12-15 10:09:18 · answer #1 · answered by Troasa 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The whole idea of sending a rocket to the moon was to show the Soviet Union we could do it. The message we were trying to send was basically that if we could send a man to the moon we can easily send a nuclear warhead to Moscow. Once that message was sent, there was no longer any military motivation for a space program, other than launching orbital spy satellites.
There are plenty of things we could do on the moon if we were willing to invest the money. We could put a stellar observatory on the dark side and get a really good look at the galaxy without all that light from the sun getting in the way. It we find sufficient natural resources there, we could manufacture and launch space craft for exploring the planets from there. The biggest obstacle to reaching the other planets from earth is all the fuel we expend breaking free of earth's gravity, but the moon only has about a third of the gravity of earth and it would be much easier to launch from there.
The problem is that getting started would cost enormous amounts of money, and NASA's modest budget won't allow for even its current modest goals to be achieved successfully.
We're not going to be able to give moon or space exploration a decent shot until we learn how to get along with other countries so we can reduce our defense spending.
2007-12-15 09:48:19 · answer #2 · answered by ? 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
It is waste of money. We send men to moon,collected samples,made geological studies.
Now automatic probes with out men are doing the same thing.
NASA plan to go to moon again by 2020
2007-12-15 09:37:15 · answer #3 · answered by Chandramohan P.R 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There's nothing new to be learned on the moon, that can't be accomplished easier, and safer by unmanned probes. It's be a waste of time, money, and brain power.
2007-12-15 09:34:42 · answer #4 · answered by johnjacob01 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Most of it has to do with politics. Hopefully, if NASA can stay on track, we will be back in the next 15 years.
2007-12-15 09:32:34 · answer #5 · answered by jessebs 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Minus $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.
2007-12-15 10:11:02 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
there is nothing on the moon (but the international space station is close) so why go there
2007-12-15 09:32:32 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Because we as a nation (U.S.) thought it was more important to spend money on other things.
2007-12-15 09:32:05 · answer #8 · answered by Larry454 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋