Back to the Moon but Why?

Here's a quick historical fact; the first American spaceflight that landed humans on the moon was in 1969.

Yeah. That long ago. 

It made heroes out of Commander Neil Armstrong and lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin when they landed the Apollo Lunar Module Eagle on July 20.

I remember watching them on live TV as they bounced around on the moon's surface and planted an American flag (which probably turned to dust decades ago).

Flash forward to 2022.

NASA sent (what they call) an historic Artemis I mission to the moon a couple of days ago. To be clear, this mission is ultimately about returning astronauts to the lunar surface for the first time in 50 years.

But the Artemis I is an uncrewed (if you don't count the crash dummies inside) spacecraft that will just be circling the moon. 

Wait a moment! Circling the moon doesn't sound like we've advanced very far in the last 50 years. What happened? Did NASA lose all their notes about safely landing the Apollo Lunar Module?

The whole mission is an embarrassment.

One of the Artemis I mannequins riding in the capsule is named Commander Moonikin Campos. Need I say more?

When the landing capsule splashes down it's going to provide some great photos (taken by 16 cameras) of the moon's surface. Again. Did NASA lose the photos they've been taking for the last five decades since we landed there?

This ground-breaking (lol!) lunar flyby is going to come the closest to the moon on November 21. Somehow that doesn't sound thrilling or impressive to me.

That's it in a nutshell. This vaunted effort by NASA is a pathetic rerun without even landing on the moon, a feat NASA accomplished a half century ago. And here we are, spending billions to do it.

As it stands, I can think of better places for taxpayers' money to go where it'll really help them.