In the 1960s, the United States and the Soviet Union engaged in a historic superpower Moon race, which culminated in 12 men exploring the surface of the Moon.

On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first human beings to set foot on the Moon. The first human steps on the Lunar surface from the Apollo 11 Lunar Module, the Eagle, was the highlight of an extended U.S. program to study and map the Moon and fulfilled the promise of President John F. Kennedy that the U.S. would land a man on the Moon before the end of the decade. The scientific return from these missions was immensely important and included nearly complete high-resolution imaging of the lunar surface, lunar samples, topographic, seismic, and gravity data, and information on the lunar environment

This first era of lunar exploration, "Moon 1.0",  began with the robotic spaceprobe Ranger 7 impacting the Moon on July 31, 1964, saw several robotic missions by the Soviet Union, six manned landings by the United States, and reached a dramatic conclusion on December 14th, 1972, as Apollo 17 Astronauts Captain Gene Cernan and Dr. Harrison Schmitt became the last men on the Moon.

Forty years ago the Moon was a major focus of human attention and activity. After a little more than ten years of enormous effort and achievement, the governments abandoned their programs, never to return.  Until now... and this time the efforts of governments are joined by a growing interest from the private sector to partner in the permanent return to Earth's sister world.  This time we are in search of energy, resources, and answers that will help us understand our home planet and secure Humanity's future.

Moon 2.0 begins...