Topics: NASA, Space, World News, Science, Technology, Moon, Politics
When you've been there, done that and got a lot more than just a t-shirt, why go back to the moon?
Although saying that, it is the moon and there's more than just the reflection of having done it already that's meant people haven't gone back in over 50 years. Thankfully, a NASA astronaut has opened up about why.
The Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969 saw NASA put 3 people on the moon and the feat is considered one of the greatest moments in the history of mankind.
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Yet despite how monumental an occasion landing and walking on the moon is, there have only been six further trips to the moon, with only five landing successfully - the last taking place in 1972.
There are still lots of reasons to return to the dusty rock in the sky and NASA's said it plans to put US astronauts back on the moon around late 2026.
But why are we waiting until then and what's been with the big pause for the past 51 years?
Well, astronaut Jim Bridenstine, who ran NASA during the Donald Trump administration, explained it's not science or technology limitations that have stopped the US from doing it.
Speaking to reporters in 2018 he said: "If it wasn't for the political risk, we would be on the moon right now.
"It was the political risks that prevented it from happening. The program took too long and it costs too much money."
And that is often what it can come down to, a mix of politics and economics. NASA's budget as of 2023 was $25.4 billion and while the Biden administration asked Congress to boost that to $27.2 billion for 2024, the total gets split among all the agency's divisions and ambitious projects.
For context, the US defense budget for 2023 is about $858 billion.
On top of this, due to the money coming from the government, congress can often be slow to approve the budget which can slow down progress.
Apollo 7 astronaut Walter Cunningham has previously spoken about the difficulties of getting more money from the government to actually send more people to the moon.
Speaking in 2015, he said: "Manned exploration is the most expensive space venture and, consequently, the most difficult for which to obtain political support.
"NASA's budget is way too low to do all the things that we've talked about."
In addition to this, other astronauts have noted that one president’s promises regarding budget increases don’t always come to fruition because they can be replaced by someone new who can simply disregard the former president’s promises.
