When Will We Get Back on the Moon?

On July 20, 1969, 38 years and one day ago, Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on the lunar surface, while in command of the Apollo 11 mission. One of the defining moments of human history, the event is best remembered through Armstrong's words on his first stepping onto the Moon's surface: That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.

At the time, the landing was also seen as a great victory of the US against the Soviet Union and many people found some philosophical interpretations to the event. A total of 24 American astronauts have traveled to the Moon, with twelve walking on its surface and three making the trip twice.

That's very nice, but if it's so simple, why didn't we do it more often? I am not taking the side of the conspiracy theory adepts but it's very interesting the interest for sending people on the Moon. For those interested in the subject, you may wanna search for the television show called Conspiracy Theory: Did We Land on the Moon?, presented by Fox.

Realistically speaking, is landing on the Moon too expensive, too dangerous or simply not worth the trouble for NASA? And if any of these arguments is true, what's with the recent comeback and all the flamboyant statements sounding like "we'll go back there...soon...we don't know when...but we will...trust us..."?

The United States, Russia, India, Japan and China have all announced plans to send astronauts back to the Moon around 2020. That's nice, especially since NASA has already announced the new rocket that will take astronauts to the Moon and put them down, safely.

The new spaceship currently under development at NASA, Ares V, will be able to transport people on the Moon and maybe even on Mars. Why do I have the feeling that, this time, if NASA is not careful, some other country's gonna make a splash by being the first country to send its astronauts back to the Moon, after decades.

I've got my money on China, would you like to place a bet?