"On July 21, 1969, Neil Armstrong swung open the hatch of his spacecraft and clambered down a short ladder towards the surface of the moon. Armstrong captured a sense of that progression in the indelible first words he spoke on the lunar surface: That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."
"NASA is planning to send four astronauts on a 10-day loop around our lunar neighbour, on a mission called Artemis II. The Artemis II crew won't land; that will fall to Artemis IV, a mission still probably several years away."
"There is little of that political or rhetorical urgency today. NASA has yo-yoed between targeting the moon and Mars as US presidents have come and gone, and Donald Trump who put the focus back on the moon in 2017 has justified the mission."
On July 21, 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first human to walk on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission. Since Apollo 17 in 1972, no humans have returned. NASA's Artemis II mission aims to send four astronauts on a 10-day lunar orbit, but they will not land. The excitement of the 1960s moon missions, driven by Cold War competition, contrasts with today's lack of urgency. NASA's focus has shifted between the moon and Mars over the years, with recent emphasis on lunar exploration reinstated by Donald Trump in 2017.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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