40 years on from the Apollo 11 Moon Landing in 1969, we’re still no closer to returning to the moon than we were when Apollo 17 left the Moon on 1972.

We’re further from where we were in 1972, if anything. At least back then, there was still the rocketry expertise and infrastructure to support it. That’s pretty much all gone now and NASA are having to re-invent the wheel. The Shuttle is being retired and it’s back to rockets again. Think what could have been achieved had NASA pressed on with Apollo in those lost years.

Today, the US is developing the Constellation program that consists of an Ares rocket launcher and the Orion crew launch vehicle. The Ares V variation is the one that would launch the the Orion CLV. However, President Obama has ordered a review of all manned spaceflight objectives and budget cuts this year could spell the end for Ares V. If that were to happen, then NASA would have to look at modifying existing rockets to fill the gap left by Ares V.

Only time will tell whether the US will let the goal of getting a man back on the moon by 2020 slip.

But even if the US falters, there are others waiting in the wings…

China has stated that it wants to put a taikonaut on the Moon by 2024. India has lunar ambitions as well and currently their first lunar mission, Chandrayaan-1, is now orbiting the moon. China, Japan and Europe also have ongoing lunar missions.

The front-runner to get a man back on the moon is probably China. They appear to have the political will and finances to do it. It’s hard to say if the US has a “been there, done that” attitude so that something grander would have more appeal, like a manned mission to a near-earth asteroid or heading straight for Mars (as Buzz Aldrin is suggesting).

Perhaps the threat of a rival nation taking the high ground will motivate the US into a more pro-active approach to returning a man to the moon. But it’s hard to see where the money will come from in these recessionary times. China’s economy, at least, is still growing, while the economies of the West are still reeling from the credit crunch.

But things are definitely looking up. And while we can celebrate the 40th anniversary of the first Man on the Moon, those of us who were there, watching, the first time around, can feel the stirrings of excitement for a promised dream that has lain dormant for so many decades – the prospect of manned space travel and all that it entails…

[phpbay]apollo 11, 100, “”, “”[/phpbay]

Apollo 11 Videos:

[tubepress mode=”tag” tagValue=”Apollo 11 anniversary”]

Products on Overstock:

[phpostock]apollo 11,1[/phpostock]

Filed under: Mercury, Gemini & Apollo