Why it's time to go back to the Moon … It's more than a stepping stone to Mars … Mars is an extremely popular destination right now. Putting people on the Red Planet has been the big goal for NASA since 2010, and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has made it very clear that his company is going to try to start a Martian colony as early as 2024. – The Verge

We recently wrote about Elon Musk and his plans to go to Mars. You can see that article here.

But according to this Verge article, NASA is considering going back to the moon first.

This is surely an expanded, elite dominant social theme.

NASA and the US government derive tremendous benefits from NASA's supposed leadership in space exploration.

Fegov is seen as corrupt and incompetent on almost every front.

Some four percent of US citizens believe Congress is highly trustworthy. The numbers aren't that much better for the judiciary or even the executive branch.

But NASA looms as a competent, ground-breaking entity that has performed miraculous acts.

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NASA has been in a weird stasis since the cancellation of the Shuttle program in 2011, relying on Russia to transport its astronauts. It needs a big project, sooner rather than later, to remind the world of what can be accomplished in space.

Fortunately, a return to the Moon is more likely if the attitude in Congress is any indication. At the recent hearings of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, representatives have been very critical of NASA's Mars initiative, attacking the Mars plan on both clarity and cost. Getting to Mars is likely to take hundreds of billions of dollars, and NASA's current budget just isn't going to cut it.

NASA has been focusing on an "asteroid redirect mission." But it is not "popular." Hence, Congress is going to defund it and encourage NASA to return to the moon.

Obama wanted NASA to concentrate on an asteroid mission. The idea was reaching an asteroid would involve technology that could then take the US to Mars.

Obama nixed another moon flight, saying "we've been there before."

Presumably a new president will be more accommodating.

Of course, moon skeptics will think all this talk is merely a prelude to an additional, prolonged deception.

These skeptics increasingly believe the entire space program is a hoax.

Such individuals don't believe there is an international space station aloft. They don't even believe in satellites.

Or the Hubble space telescope.

A continuation of NASA's "fictional" accomplishments does two things.

First, it allows NASA to control any significant efforts at space travel. These efforts supposedly would reveal NASA frauds.

Second, NASA's continued presence and non-existent accomplishments bolster the idea of government competence.

There is not much government does, or does well. But somehow the US government has managed to create a full-fledged space program that took man to the moon.

Space skeptics may also be skeptical of US nuclear programs, as we have been documenting.

Modern media practices aggravate skepticism. What reporters are told by the Pentagon or NASA is what they report.

No one in the formal media challenges these narratives.

Yet Youtube is filled with debunking videos, questioning NASA accomplishments in sometimes excruciating detail.

Some of the skepticism seems credible.