TRANSCRIPT
[["That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."]]
Astronaut Neil Armstrong made history in July 1969 when he became the first man on the moon, and uttered these famous words.
It kicked off a space race between the US and Russia that ended in December 1972, with Apollo 17’s moonwalkers Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt.
No American has since repeated the feat - but NASA has plans to change that.
Marcia Dunn is an aerospace writer for the Associated Press.
"NASA has contracted with private companies to send their own landers to the moon, sort of to scout out the place before astronauts actually arrive. So this is a NASA's supported program. But the two companies, one in Pittsburgh, one in Houston, are putting their own money into this.”
Pittsburgh's Astrobotic Technology is up first with a planned liftoff of a lander in January.
The vehicle, known as Peregrine, will hitch a ride on a giant United Launch Alliance Vulcan Centaur rocket.
But that has already attracted some criticism, because the manifest includes cremated remains and DNA that will stay on the Moon, inside the Peregrine lander, forever.
In a December 21 letter addressed to officials at NASA and the Department of Transportation, Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren expressed his "deep concern and profound disappointment".
"The Moon holds a sacred position in many Indigenous cultures, including ours. The act of depositing human remains and other materials, which could be perceived as discards in any other location, on the Moon is tantamount to desecration of this sacred space."
Despite these objections, NASA has continued to plan for a second commercial liftoff in mid-February.
Scientists believe the moon's south pole and its permanently shadowed craters hold billions of kilograms of frozen water that could be used for drinking and making rocket fuel.
NASA's Amy Eichenbaum says the commercial vehicles are helping with experiments to test these theories, as the agency considers a long-term plan to put an astronaut back on the moon - and eventually establish a long-term presence.
"The Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment One - or PRIME One - will be deployed to the lunar south pole by our commercial lunar lander partner, Intuitive Machines. Prime One is intended to drill for water on the lunar surface... The objective of PRIME One is to inform NASA's plan for mining resources on the lunar surface, as well as mission operations for a future NASA operation mission called VIPER."
The space agency has been calling for people to submit their names as part of that VIPER mission.
Associate administrator Nicola Fox has said in a statement the names will then be attached to the rover, and taken to the moon.
"Just think: Our names will ride along as VIPER navigates across the rugged terrain of the lunar South Pole and gathers valuable data that will help us better understand the history of the Moon and the environment where we plan to send Artemis astronauts.”
It's not just the US that's been keen to race back to the lunar surface.
There's also Japan, which will attempt to land in two weeks.
The lander from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, known as JAXA, will carry two toy-size rovers.
It's had a big head start, sharing a September launch with an X-ray telescope that stayed behind in orbit around Earth.
