February 15, 2019
By Christian Davenport
During the height of the Space Age, (click here) the United States and the Soviet Union bushwhacked a frantic path to the lunar surface, landing nearly 20 spacecraft softly on the moon between 1966 and 1976, including the six carrying NASA’s Apollo astronauts.
But after the last of these missions, a robotic Soviet probe that brought back 6 ounces of lunar soil, Earth’s closest neighbor was virtually abandoned. The public and politicians lost interest.
While the occasional orbiter has launched to survey the moonsince then,in more than 42 years only one spacecraft touched down softly on the lunar surface: China’s Chang’e 3 in 2013....
It is pretty much another space race with new players and technology. NASA retired the Space Shuttle and any program that is to carry people to the moon will probably be on the revised Apollo booster rocket. I thought that wasn't ready for some time yet.
The complaints from the public will be similar; the national debt and prioritizing citizens over the space program.
...There is the rise of China, which on Jan. 3 landed a spacecraft on the far side of the moon, a historic first. This month, an Israeli spacecraft destined for the moon is scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral, Fla. If successful, it would make Israel the fourth country, after the United States, Russia and China, to land a spacecraft on the lunar surface.
Later this year — the 50th anniversary of the first Apollo moon landing — two more moon missions are planned, one by India and another, by China. On Thursday, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine announced the space agency intends to partner with the private sector to land an American spacecraft on the moon as early as this year.
“It’s important we get back to the moon as fast as possible,” he told reporters. “We’re going to take shots on goal.”
If those landings are successful, it would set a record: the most soft lunar landings in a single year, surpassing 1966 and 1972, which each saw three vehicles touch down. (At the beginning of the Space Age, many spacecraft ended up crashing into the moon.)...
