Apollo 11 anniversary: Why people have not been again to the moon
- No-one has been back to the moon since 1972 when Apollo was scrapped
- READ MORE: One big lie? Conspiracies reignite as NASA delays its moon landing
It was one giant leap for mankind, but 55 years on NASA has arguably been unable to better its remarkable feat of putting people on the moon.
The successful Apollo 11 mission delivered two American astronauts – Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin – to the lunar surface on July 20, 1969 (while Michael Collins famously remained in orbit).
Another 10 American men walked on the moon, leaving flags and footprints embedded in the lunar dust, but the Apollo programme was prematurely scrapped after the last mission in 1972.
Since then, no one has been back – but why?
MailOnline spoke to experts about the long gap, which may be fueling the famous conspiracy theory that the landings were staged.
The Apollo 11 mission delivered to American astronauts – Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin – to the lunar surface on July 20, 1969. Pictured, Aldrin on the moon, captured by Armstrong
Pictured, astronaut Buzz Aldrin Jr. poses for a photograph beside the US flag on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission, July 20, 1969. Artemis is considered the successor to Apollo
Famously, America’s monumental achievement of putting humans on the moon in July 1969 was the climax of a ‘space race’ with the Soviet Union.
Earlier in the 1960s, the two superpowers had launched space probes to the moon’s surface (the first one to achieve a successful landing was the Soviet Union’s Luna 9 in 1966) – but human feet on the moon was the ultimate aim.
Following Apollo 11, NASA put humans on the moon on another five occasions, ending with Apollo 17 in 1972 (Apollo 13 famously failed).
But since then neither NASA nor the Russians – or even any space agency worldwide – have even attempted a manned return.
Dr Martin Elvis, senior astrophysicist at the Smithsonian Institution, said there are three key reasons as to why NASA packed up the Apollo programme.
‘The USA had won the race, the Vietnam war was costing a lot, and the moon looked like “magnificent desolation” in Buzz Aldrin’s words, so there didn’t seem much point,’ he told MailOnline.
Pictured, Eagle, the part of the Apollo 11 spacecraft that landed Armstrong and Aldrin on the lunar surface
The Apollo 11 crew: Neil Armstrong (left), Michael Collins (centre) and Edwin ‘Buzz’ Aldrin (right). Collins famously didn’t step on the moon
This timeline of the orbit shows how the astronauts progressed after the rocket launch and how they went on to land, take steps on the moon and even moon walk. The Lunar module transposition was also fitted with a command/service module which detached from Saturn V and rotated through 180 degrees before docking prior to its journey to the moon
Famously, America’s monumental achievement of putting humans on the moon was the climax of a ‘space race’ with the Soviet Union
‘MAN WALKS ON THE MOON’: How the Daily Mail covered the incredible news on July 21, 1969
Peter Read, professor of physics at the University of Oxford, said the main reason humans have not been back to the moon is ‘largely political’.
‘Once the Americans had demonstrated they could land people safely on the moon and bring them back, the Soviet Union basically lost interest in trying to compete,’ he told MailOnline.
‘Indeed the Apollo program was actually cut short in the 1970s as public interest waned in the manned missions.
‘Renewed interest in landing people now seems to be with a view to exploiting the moon itself and using it as a staging post for going to Mars.’
Anna-Lena Kjøniksen, professor at the Østfold University College’s department of engineering in Norway, blamed the high costs required.
At the time, Apollo 11 cost $355 million (equivalent to $3 billion today), but a manned moon mission today would be an estimated $28 billion.
NASA astronaut Neil Armstrong made history when he stepped out of the Apollo 11’s ‘Eagle’ landing module on July 21, 1969 and left the first human footprints on the moon
The surface of the moon as seen from the Apollo 11 shuttle while in lunar orbit. The 1969 Apollo 11 voyage was the first time man walked on the moon
‘You need to have a purpose for going there that justifies spending the huge amounts of money involved,’ Professor Kjøniksen told MailOnline.
What’s more, it was figured that a mobile space probe could survey parts of the moon more effectively than a manned landing in one spot.
‘After many years new science missions showed that the moon was much more varied and interesting than our first impression,’ Dr Elvis told MailOnline.
NASA is of course finally planning to return to the moon with the successor to the Apollo programme, called Artemis, named after the mythological Greek goddess of the moon.
The first mission, Artemis I, flew an unmanned spacecraft around the moon and back in late 2022, while a follow-up mission with astronauts along the same route (Artemis II) will allegedly happen next year.
NASA says it won’t put humans on the moon again until September 2026, although some experts think Artemis III will be delayed again.
Following Apollo 11, NASA put humans on the moon on another five occasions, ending with Apollo 17 in 1972 ( Apollo 13 famously failed ). Here, astronaut David Scott salutes next to the American flag during the Apollo 15 mission, the fourth US mission to the moon
Unlike Apollo, Artemis will eventually establish a permanent base and ‘sustained human presence’ on the moon, with buildings and infrastructure.
Thomas Herzig, CEO of space architecture firm Pneumocell in Austria, thinks renewed moon interest from the likes of China could start the next space race.
But this time the space race will be different – sending humans to new regions of the moon and setting up a proper civilization there.
‘With China there is a strong and ambitious new competitor in space,’ Mr Herzig told MailOnline.
‘In 1972, the budget of NASA was dramatically shrunken and there was no more political interest for further crewed missions to the moon, or even build a moonbase.
‘This might change now.’
WHAT WAS THE APOLLO PROGRAMME?
This NASA photo taken on July 16, 1969 shows the huge, 363ft tall Apollo 11 rocket launched from pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center
Apollo was the NASA programme that launched in 1961 and got the first man on the moon eight years later.
The first four flights tested the equipment for the Apollo Program and six of the other seven flights managed to land on the moon.
The first manned mission to the moon was Apollo 8 which circled around it on Christmas Eve in 1968 but did not land.
The crew of Apollo 9 spent ten days orbiting Earth and completed the first manned flight of the lunar module – the section of the Apollo rocket that would later land Neil Armstrong on the moon.
The Apollo 11 mission was the first one to land on the lunar surface on July 20, 1969.
The capsule landed on the Sea of Tranquillity, carrying mission commander Armstrong and pilot Buzz Aldrin.
Armstrong and Aldrin walked on the lunar surface while Michael Collins remained in orbit around the moon.
When Armstrong became the first person to walk on the moon, he said, ‘That’s one small step for (a) man; one giant leap for mankind.’
Apollo 12 landed later that year on November 19 on the Ocean of Storms.
Apollo 13 was to be the third mission to land on the moon, but just under 56 hours into flight, an oxygen tank explosion forced the crew to cancel the lunar landing and move into the Aquarius lunar module to return back to Earth.
Apollo 15 was the ninth manned lunar mission in the Apollo space program, and considered at the time the most successful manned space flight up to that moment because of its long duration and greater emphasis on scientific exploration than had been possible on previous missions.
The last Apollo moon landing happened in 1972 after a total of 12 astronauts had touched down on the lunar surface.
Astronaut Edwin ‘Buzz’ Aldrin is pictured unpacking experiments from the lunar module on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission. He was photographed by Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong on July 20, 1969
