The moon is not that far away in terms of miles but it is far away in terms of momentum, particularly if you want to go there and return. The mission plan use

The moon is not that far away in terms of miles but it is far away in terms of momentum, particularly if you want to go there and return. The mission plan used for Apollo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_orbit_rendezvous https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_orbit_rendezvous has a bit of the character of a stunt, like going over Niagara falls in a barrel, but it is much easier than all the alternative plans. If you were a science fiction fan growing up in the 1980s you might have read editorials in Analog Science Fiction Magazine that suggested we were sold an inferior plan to get to the moon but anything better is a lot more difficult. Whether it is the star-crossed SLS-Orion complex, the comically bloated and tippy Starship-derived lander [1] or the plan to meet those up in a parking orbit and have astronaut climb out one hatch and into the other, there's no realistic plan at all. [1] if you had a pair of those chopsticks and methane-oxygen fuel from ISRU boy it would be sweet but without that...