cyberbard said:
So Joe...my question is why haven't we been back?
We haven't gone back because there's no incentive to do so until now. The reason the US went to the moon in the first place was to beat the Russians to it and assert themselves as the leaders in space.
Now that the Chinese have made their intentions know to land on the moon, the US is now ramping up the space exploration once again. We have a new space race. Establishing a base on the moon will establish the US as the unchallenged leaders in space.
One question; does landing on the moon give the landing country a legal claim to the real estate of the moon? Does the US actually own the landing sites? By building a permanent base on the moon give them squatters rights? I guess that was more than one question.
They will most certainly build a base near the frozen lake they found on the moon to get a source of water. The US will have a quite the bonus by making a territory out of that land on the moon. If that's the case, making a base there now when they're the only country with the resources to do so would be a really smart thing to do.
There will always be conspiracy theories. I suppose we should always maintain a healthy scepticism. I believe the moon mission was not a hoax.