Meanwhile, back in 1969... [View all]

[viva la]

CNN: On 4/26/2023, "A lunar lander likely plummeted 3 miles before smashing into the lunar surface after a historic attempt to make a soft touchdown on the moon, the Japanese company Ispace revealed Friday....
The Hakuto-R lunar lander was aiming to make history in late April in its attempt to become the first spacecraft — developed by a private company rather than a government space agency — to make a controlled landing on the moon."

Consider...On 7/20/1969, 54 years ago-- decades before the internet, with the computing power of your toddler's Speak and Spell-- two Americans not only landed safely on the moon's surface, they also walked around, got pictures, picked up rocks, got back into the landing craft, and shot back up into space to reconnect with their comrade in the orbiter. And all three men arrived home to earth a few days later.

Sometimes, really, governments do it better. And sooner.