Well, sorta. In the 60s they went to the moon in a rickety little deathtrap. Even with a rocket that was large by modern standards, that was the best they could do.
We have higher standards now, and we want something more than flags-and-footprints. That requires a much bigger mission.
At the same time, the space-industrial complex has had 50 years to optimize how to direct funding from Congress to themselves. And they’ve become very efficient at it. SLS is a pile of garbage because of this. It is portrayed as the backbone of the mission, but it’s really more like an inflamed appendix.
The only sense in which it’s succeeded is that it has become uncancelable. And due to that, Artemis is uncancelable, since SLS has no other use.
We do have the technology to put humans back on the moon for cheaper than we did before, with both better accommodations and greater scientific results. But we aren’t quite at the point where it can be done entirely by private dollars. So Congress has to be involved, and they mandate we do it with backwards-facing technology–actually worse than nothing, even ignoring the costs. So the main question is whether there’s enough left over for private development to actually do the work.
Any optimists here think it will happen in early February?
So astronauts could be heading to the moon as soon as February.
“The administration has asked us to acknowledge that we are, indeed, in what is commonly called a second space race,” said Lakiesha Hawkins, acting deputy associate administrator, Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate. “There is a desire for us to be the first to return to the surface of the Moon. With that being said, NASA’s objective is to do so safely.”
And of course it’s now a race 
Haha, damn I missed out. Must have posed seconds apart - amazing when you consider the previous post was nearly a year ago.
Well, I’m excited. I know we’ve been there six times so it’s not really history at all, but I was born 15 years after the last Apollo mission so I get to see a moon landing in real time.
I was already born the first time, but I hope that the live feed will be made in high resolution and in colour this time.
I am also very curious about the new conspiracy theories: how stupid will they manage to be, and how many fools will fall for them? Will they enjoy it?
I’ve been predicting, “We know it’s fake, because it looks just like the faked Apollo pictures!”
Yeah, and why do objects fall differently on the Moon than on Earth? FAKE!
And, no pointing the camera at the sun!
