Few moments in the Cold War were as unambiguously triumphant for the United States as the landing of the Apollo 11 astronauts on the surface of the Moon in the summer of 1969. The realization of a dream first championed by John F. Kennedy, Apollo 11 demonstrated indisputably America's technical engineering competence as well as its determination to do what has never been done. Coming on the heels of one of the bleakest years in U.S. history—which saw the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy, and political protests across the nation—the mission provided a glimmer of astonishment to a desperate populace.
Now, President Donald Trump has pledged to send American astronauts back to the Moon, and to Mars, by the end of his tenure in the White House. This announcement could herald the end of a decades-long drought in manned space exploration.
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