posted on Aug, 24 2008 @ 05:55 PM
There are actually several reasons why going to the moon would have an interest besides that of proving anything to the enemy.
Actually, as every educated person knows, the moon has no atmosphere, and a gravity that is about 1/6th of that on earth. This alone is an interesting
feature considering space travel: if one was to launch a ship from the moon rather than from earth, it would be tremendously easier and more
economical.
However, launching a ship from there involves a few things...
The first one is the presence of the ship there, and consequently of the staff of the ship. If the ship is there ready to be launched, that means it
either was built there, landed there in the first place, or was somehow "brought there" (but that is the least likely option).
Landing a ship there in the sole view of re-launching it to elsewhere is a waste of energy, thus a waste of money. It would only have an interest if
the ship was to be launched and return several times to the same place...
That would require a permanent (or semi-permanent) base on the site. Which is also the prerequisite to building the ship there in the first
place...
Well, all things considered, it is then interesting to plan building something on the moon, to allow those scenarios above to happen. And going there
in the first place to investigate the place is necessary. One doesn't just "grab his things" to settle down somewhere unknown...
Why it would have been interesting at the time, and abandoned after a while... Who knows? But there are countless reasons that man would have liked to
go to the moon in hope to build a base there. The reasons for not returning there have also been discussed a lot, and it seems that financial reasons
would be the most reasonable to consider giving it a break.
However, imho, with the recent developments of the rovers & probes on and around Mars (and elsewhere in the solar system), the usefulness of a moon
base becomes more and more important, and could result in a focus to the moon again in the next few years.