Why Did NASA Cancel the Apollo Program? | Apollo

NASA had grand plans for the Moon during the Apollo program, but those dreams were cut short a few years after the first landing. Apollo 17 would mark the last time humans ventured to the Moon.

Read More:
The Real Story Of Apollo 17... And Why We Never Went Back To The Moon
“On December 11, 1972, Apollo 17 touched down on the Moon. This was not only our final Moon landing, but the last time we left low Earth orbit. With the successful launch of the Orion capsule, NASA is finally poised to go further again. So it’s important to remember how we got to the Moon — and why we stopped going.”

Down to Earth: The Apollo Moon Missions That Never Were
“As the U.S.'s lunar landing program wound down, plans for its last three Apollo missions were canceled, leaving unused hardware and questions of what might have been.”

The Blue Marble Shot: Our First Complete Photograph of Earth
“The incredible story behind an image we've all seen hundreds of times, possibly the most reproduced photograph in history.”
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The path to the moon traced a dangerous line of risk and reward. In a race against time, the Apollo Program challenged our scientific capabilities and redefined the boundaries of humanity. To celebrate NASA’s 60 years of exploration, Seeker is going back in time to relive each Apollo mission, taking viewers on a ride to an entirely new world.

Seeker explains every aspect of our world through a lens of science, inspiring a new generation of curious minds who want to know how today’s discoveries in science, math, engineering and technology are impacting our lives and shaping our future. Our stories parse meaning from the noise in a world of rapidly changing information.

[ArunKumar-xhvp]

I still don't understand what USA has achieved from wars of Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria they wasted trillions of $ just in wars rather than spending that much money into science and technology fields.

[Master_Therion]

They had to cancel the Apollo Program? Well, I understand. Sometimes I have to open Task Manager and cancel programs too.

[monteiro]

I was 10 years old when Apollo 17 landed on the Moon. An awesome and amazing fact. Greetings from Brazil.👍👍

[robertmelvin]

I remember this differently. Back in around 1960 I wanted to pursue a career in space exploration; specifically planetary geochemistry. Approximately 2 to 4 yrs after the assassination of JFK, LBJ cut the budget and layoffs began at NASA and its supporting industries. I remember, because I had to rethink my entire future because there was no employment in space exploration, and that was before Apollo 11. JFK talked about the moon and beyond, but with his death the real focus was nothing more than a PR stunt to beat the Soviet's to the moon; and the USA landed brave men on the Earth's Moon. I did return to geochemistry, but was mostly land locked on the 3rd rock from the Sun.

[Malgus]

It's a shame we left the moon in the first place. I've always dreamt of moon colonies/cities and visiting someday. Humanity can do incredible things when put to the test

[astrogay]

well, damned wars , cut the budget to space exploration, if the vietnam war never happend, it was an mistake, today we would have moon colonies, Mars also, and even the Asteroids

[mein]

Maybe aliens live in the dark side of the moon, probably that's why they didn't go back

[Subsonik]

Excellent series! Now do the shuttle program, please.

[tetepeb]

Just imagine what SpaceX could do if they had the budget that Apollo had.

[ugthefluffster]

This is one of the best video series on youtube

[michaeldavila]

I think that colonizing the moon THEN Mars would've been a better idea. I would love to be in a moon hotel starring at the beautiful Earth.

[Yathuprem]

Awesome series. Love these Apollo video. Can you make a playlist?

[baguiobyben]

In my opinion, a base on the moon is a more logical thing to do rather than spending a lot of resources on keeping the space station up in low space orbit.. I mean the moon does have a stable ground and it has a soil composition similar to earth so plant life can survive there. Having a base there means we can build a much larger telescope and observatory that will not be affected by anything since the moon hardly has any atmosphere to bend light. If there is volcanic activity there it means we have minerals that we can mine and a way to harness energy and if we are lucky we can get some fuel as well. For me the priority should not be sending men to die in Mars but to send men to live on the moon. The advantages are endless.

[daffidavit]

I feel like I missed out on Apollo. I went to FIT just 20 miles or so south of the Cape to study "space technology" What college offers a degree in "space technology" today? After it became clear in 1972 that there wasn't going be much of a future in space tech, I transferred to another college, now a University in the North East, got a degree in business and later went on to Law School in Chicago in the mid to late seventies.
But somehow, I still dream that I was graduated with a degree in "Space Tech". Yeah, I still have dreams I'm back in school trying to pass those hard science tests. It's kind of like those dreams where you are running away from something in slo-mo. At least I was able to use my pilot's license at age 17 with whom my other buddies had the same. One of my buddy's father had a Cessna 172 that he let his son base at Melbourne airport. I can't remember which Apollo mission it was, 16 or17 that we saw while circling around the very small restricted area at night while flying up the Indian River. But we saw the Saturn V all lighted up from ground lights. We were allowed to circle the area within a 10-mile diameter, as I recall, at 2000 ft and see the huge and beautiful Saturn V just standing there at night ready to go in a few days. I'll never forget that sight for the rest of my life.
Even though it seems like a lifetime ago, I can still see it in my mind standing there like it was yesterday from 2000 ft. Can you imagine today, being allowed to fly your Cessna that close to a standing Saturn V? Security was vague back in the early 70s. I don't recall anything other than the Cuban Missile Crisis seven years earlier that posed such a threat. But today, we couldn't dream of flying that close. I thank God for my chance to do such a thing. LLAP.

[PhantomFilmAustralia]

With the money spent on illegal wars totalling over 6 trillion dollars, that money could have been spent on lunar colonization and space exploration—far exceeding today's expectations.

[RichardBaran]

I wish we were still spending this percentage on space.

[gasser]

TLDR: NASA lost the military funding and became a special interest group after the US realized russia wasnt on the moon.

[txwaterbird]

It's so sad that we were on the cutting edge of exploration so long ago, then simply let it fall away.

I think part of the problem was that NASA forgot who was paying for the program. They didn't think it worthwhile to keep the American taxpayer intrrested and involved. How well I remember that heady

[lasarith]

According to conspiracy theorists - Space Aliens told them not to go back to the moon, even though (they Claim) we never landed 🤦‍♂️

[roccobollotta]

The moon would have a great platform for assembling rockets requiring much less fuel to go to Mars. Would not be easy, but the cost would be overridden by the requirement for far less fuel to launch from there thus being able to carry more weight for the Mars missions.