Why Is NASA Spending $100 Billion to Return to the Moon? Depends on Who You Ask

NASA pulled off the moon landing in 1969 with a clear goal from the outset — to be the first nation to put people on the lunar surface.

The US was locked in a space race with the Soviet Union, and the Apollo 11 landing helped cement America’s lead in the competition to be the reigning geopolitical superpower in the depths of the Cold War.