I can only imagine the intense excitement and utter wonder that TV viewers, NASA employees, and astronauts alike must've felt on that July day back in 1969. Although there is a group of folks who deny that the moon landing actually occurred, the majority of humanity believes it did.

It's funny to me how going into space has become a commonplace understanding in our collective understanding. But once upon a time, the idea of going into space at all, much less landing on the moon must've been an insane idea.

History in HD, Unsplash
History in HD, Unsplash
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And now we have Elon Musk and others having serious discussion about building human colonies on Mars. Speaking of Elon Musk and SpaceX...

Eccentric though he may be, there's no doubt that Elon Musk is one productive billionaire.

It's official: As of today, NASA has awarded a $2.9 billion dollar contract to (now) Texas' own SpaceX to build the starship that will take us back to the lunar surface of the moon for the first time since 1972. (And according to some conspiracy theorists, for the first time ever.) ;)

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The fact that NASA has chosen SpaceX speaks to the confidence they have in Musk's SpaceX. And obviously, this decision has upset another billionaire well known to us all. Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin had also thrown their hat into the ring, along with Dynetics--a company based in Alabama.

NASA has named their human spaceflight program after the Greek goddess--Artemis. 

Aviation giant Boeing will also have a role to play in the Artemis program. They'll be providing the SLS, or Space Launch System. The SLS is an enormous rocket "designed to carry the Orion Crew capsule to the moon's orbit," reports CNN.

"From there, [SpaceX's] Starship will carry the astronauts to the moon's surface."

You can delve deeper into what all is planned for the Artemis program directly from NASA here.

 

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