Why haven't we been back to the MOON-should be simple now compared to way back w

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   Missing Linkposted 8 years ago

   Why haven't we been back to the MOON-should be simple now compared to way back when? Did we ever go?
   
   I've always believed we went to the moon but have just recently become somewhat skeptical.  For example, why haven't we been back there?  It should be very easy to go with today's technology compared to the technology we had per the original "landings."  We should be going back and forth there routinely and easily...building a station, towers, bases, communication systems, and much more.  It should be so easy now that high paying tourists should be able to routinely go and hang out for awhile in a base, walk around on the surface in space suits, etc.

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   ronbergeronposted 8 years ago

   Yes, we went to the moon. Multiple times. The primary reason we did so was to get there before the USSR. It was purely political. The science was secondary, although we learned a lot. I think we learned more about the engineering of how to do it rather than about the moon itself.
   
   Getting there is very expensive. We haven't been back because there hasn't been a good reason to do so.
   
   There's talk now about the US abandoning the ISS with the thought of returning to the moon. 1/6 of NASA's total budget goes to supporting the ISS. They can't afford that and a return to the moon at the same time.
   
   Technology has advanced a lot over the years, but anything involving large rockets is still difficult and dangerous.

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      Missing Linkposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Very interesting and informative!  You can probably understand why people scratch their heads sometimes and wonder about this though?  Thanks much!

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   bradmasterOCcalposted 8 years ago

   We send probes to Mars, but haven't tried to get back to the Moon in 45 years. The Moon would have been a far better place to stay than the ISS.
   
   Why did we lose our Space Shuttle? and have to bum ride on Russian Rockets, that Russia is building in the hundreds, if not more, to get to the ISS?
   
   If we were ever serious about a manned trip to Mars, the Moon would be far better to be the launch.
   
   The one drawback about colonizing the Moon, it would be a security threat to the rest or the world, and especially to China and Russia.
   
   Other than that, everything that we do is expensive, and even more expensive when we wait decades to finally do it. The US can't even get a High Speed Rail system for the 21st century, when many countries, and especially China have extensive High Speed Rail systems.
   
   Delay has already projected a doubled cost for the planned! High Speed Rail in California.
   
   NASA has been downsized and now they require the help of private space companies, like Space X. The original space shuttles, actually never left the Earth, but anyway they were built in the 1960s. We haven't really done much advancement in rocket propulsion since that time, and yet we can get a probe to that was built several decades ago to travel to the outer most parts of our solar system.
   
   If some people can't think of good reasons to go to the Moon, then we need more imaginative people in the world.

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      Missing Linkposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Great points!  I can feel your disappointment in some ways and share it.  Our gov. bureaucracy has been too slow and expensive per this issue it seems...and lacking in vision, etc.  Thanks much!

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