Returning to the Moon in the New Decade

January 2020  :  Francine Jackson

We're now in 2020, past the year that celebrated the first footprints on the Moon. It has been close to fifty years since that last man observed Earth from our nearest neighbor, and, at present, there are no firm dates to walk on its surface. Of course, there are many scheduled launches toward there, both orbiters and landers, from many more countries than ever before.

Apparently, within the next several years, there are dozens of planned craft aimed toward the Moon, from such countries as Russia, China, Japan, India, and others, in addition to the U.S. Some have already launched and been successful, either orbiting or landing, although unfortunately there have been failures. Some of you might recall the Google Lunar XPRIZE, which seemed to go on forever, where a private organization was to design, build, launch, land, and roll hundreds of feet away from the lander. Sadly, although there were several extensions to the deadline, the prize was never awarded. Again, though, these were all unmanned efforts -- perhaps thankfully.

But, are we really ready to return persons to the Moon? It seemed so easy in science fiction movies, yet it took years for our first volunteers to touch down; also, the actual missions have not been continued, so going back will have to involve an almost starting from scratch effort. We do understand there are astronauts working toward the effort, but there are still a few years before once again there will be another set of footprints moving through the lunar regolith.

Many of us who were part of the generation that watched the real landing July 20, 1969, believed this was the first of a very diligent effort for the rest of us to possibly have our turn to see the Earth from this unbelievable viewpoint. Hopefully, some of you, eventually, will actually have the chance.