Lauren Grush

Ultimately, it's all about testing and just making sure we are ready and doing incremental steps to get to that place where we are ready to land on the moon.

This mission was a dress rehearsal for what's to come.

All in all, they came home safely and they got to see it.

far side of the moon in a way that astronauts have never seen it before.

And so in that way, I think we can deem this mission a success.

Ultimately, it's all about testing and just making sure we are ready and doing incremental steps to get to that place where we are ready to land on the moon.

This mission was a dress rehearsal for what's to come.

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All in all, they came home safely and they got to see the far side of the moon in a way that astronauts have never seen it before.

And so in that way, I think we can deem this mission a success.

Well, I think it just depends on who you ask.

Recently, there has been a lot of concern brought up about the fact that China is also sending astronauts to the moon.

And so you'll hear lawmakers and even NASA executives talk about the need to beat China to the moon.

There's been concern that maybe they will get there first and kind of stake a claim to that area, preventing our exploration of it.

But for more peaceful reasons, you know, there's a lot that NASA hopes to gain from the moon.

For instance, there's this idea of jump-starting a lunar economy, so finding ways to make money off the moon, possibly for an economy around the moon.

And then, of course, it's learning how to live off of another planetary body.

That's no small feat.

And eventually, the goal is to get to Mars.

And so learning to live off of the surface of the moon, those lessons can then be applied to Mars living someday.