Since 1969, 12 men have walked on the moon’s surface, leaving boot prints in the fine slate dust. In 1972, as the crew of the last lunar mission flew home, President Richard Nixon predicted, “This may be the last time in this century that men will walk on the moon.” Several presidents since have promised to put American astronauts on the moon again, someday, and the desire to return has not faded.
Weeks after President Donald Trump was inaugurated, leaked memos revealed that the president’s advisers had contemplated a moon return as early as 2020. By late 2017, federal officials directed NASA to focus on a voyage to the moon—not to plant another flag, but to build a lasting presence, aimed at launching missions deeper into space. And in the past year, the administration’s aspirations have crystallized into a specific plan.
There are no Cold War tensions to push Americans to the moon in this century. But there is a rush. The Trump administration has moon fever, and with the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing just around the corner, NASA is in a hurry.
Read: Why land on the moon? To see if we can.
The Trump administration wants to put humans on the moon by 2028. Unlike the Apollo program, this won’t be an in-house effort. NASA has asked American aerospace companies to submit designs for transportation systems that could be launched and tested, without a crew, as early as 2024. Applications are due in late March, and the winners stand to receive contracts worth from $300,000 to $9 million. Potential participants include longtime NASA contractors such as Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman; the quirky-billionaire-owned SpaceX and Blue Origin; and smaller, more obscure companies.