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The Politics and Perils of Space Exploration pp 67–82Cite as

Why Not Go Back to the Moon?

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Abstract

This chapter explores the reasons why NASA is choosing to go to back to the Moon first and then on to Mars. The politics affecting this decision is discussed including initial attempts for financial support by President George H.W. Bush in the late 1980s to President George W. Bush in 2003 and up to current decisions of President Obama and Trump. Opposing thoughts still exist whether to set up a lunar base to serve as a space platform to travel to deep space versus moving directly to manned Mars missions.

Keywords

  • Apollo program
  • Artemis program
  • Astrobotic Technology Inc.
  • Charles Bolden
  • President George W. Bush
  • Buzz Aldrin
  • Charles Bolden
  • China
  • Constellation Moon
  • International Space Station (ISS)
  • Lunar CATALYST
  • Lunar Gateway
  • Masten Space Systems Inc.
  • Moon Express Inc.
  • National Research Council (NRC)
  • NextStep Projects
  • Orion capsule
  • Space Exploration Initiative (SEI)
  • Space Policy Directive 1
  • Space Station Freedom
  • President Donald Trump
  • Wu Weiren

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  • DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-56835-1_4
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Notes

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Senior Lecturer Emeritus, University of Washington, Tacoma, WA, USA

    Linda Dawson

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  1. Linda Dawson
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Dawson, L. (2021). Why Not Go Back to the Moon?. In: The Politics and Perils of Space Exploration. Springer Praxis Books(). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56835-1_4

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