Why is everyone rushing to the moon?

It's been more than half a century since astronaut Gene Cernan wished "godspeed" to his Apollo 17 crew as he took his final steps into NASA's lunar lander and prepared for his voyage back to

Earth, becoming the last human being to stand on the surface of the moon to date. As he left the moon's Taurus-Littrow valley, Cernan acknowledged that with the close of NASA's Apollo

program, he — and humans in general — would be "back home for some time to come." With a note of prophetic optimism, however, Cernan also hinted that humankind's Earthbound respite would be

someday broken with another lunar return "not too long into the future."

Five decades later, Cernan's prediction seems poised for validation. Another space race, already underway, has intensified in recent months, with countries across the globe once again

setting their sights on the moon as the next stop — and step — in our push into the broader reaches of the galaxy. So what's behind this resurgent lunar rush, and where (aside from the moon)

could it lead?

Last week's successful launch of India's Chandrayaan-3 robotic lunar mission comes "amid renewed interest in exploring the moon," The New York Times said recently, noting that "the United

States and China are both aiming to send astronauts there in the coming years, and a half dozen robotic missions from Russia, Japan and the United States could head there this year and

next." In particular, the U.S. and China are in "a space race," NASA administrator Bill Nelson told Politico earlier this year. "We better watch out that they don't get to a place on the

moon under the guise of scientific research," he added. "it is not beyond the realm of possibility that they say, 'Keep out, we're here, this is our territory.'"

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Rafi Schwartz has worked as a politics writer at The Week since 2022, where he covers elections, Congress and the White House. He was previously a contributing writer with Mic focusing

largely on politics, a senior writer with Splinter News, a staff writer for Fusion's news lab, and the managing editor of Heeb Magazine, a Jewish life and culture publication. Rafi's work

has appeared in Rolling Stone, GOOD and The Forward, among others.