A list of failed moon-landing promises made by space agencies

Apparently, this is the only technology that has regressed in 60 years. Everything else has progressed, except this. Why?

I’ve had a few podcast conversations about the Apollo missions, and I’ve come to the conclusion that humans didn’t walk on the Moon.

Call me a ‘Moon landing denier’ if you like.

That’s fine.

I’ll happily add it to the growing list of things I ‘deny’.

Our computers could not tell any difference whatsoever between a real or simulated mission to the moon.

— Retired ground-crew member

Moon landing conversations

Here are some episodes in which my guests make arguments against the Apollo missions:

• Randy Walsh has authored a few books on the rockets themselves, including the underpowered engines and disasters that occurred during preparation.

• Bart Sibrel made an excellent film called A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Moon.

• Ferdinand Santos uses probability theory to debunk the Apollo missions.

• Massimo Mazzucco is a famous Italian photographer who has analysed the photos allegedly taken on the moon.

According to my recent research, however, there were no live TV broadcasts of either Apollo 11 or Apollo 12. If true, this means that the incredible space achievement we watched was a ghastly, ghostly joke perpetrated by those masters of the hoax — NASA.

— Ralph Rene, author of 'NASA Mooned America'

A list of failed promises

So, to be clear, NASA sent astronauts to the Moon around 60 years ago. Everything went perfectly. They even drove a lunar rover and played golf on the lunar surface.

And they did it a few times, apparently.

Today, however, they’re no longer able to do so, and we’re given a long list of rather flimsy excuses. I won’t go into those now, but they’re all available online.

What I’m doing here is compiling a collection of broken promises—not just from NASA and SpaceX, but from all major space agencies. Keep in mind that NASA is the only one that supposedly sent humans to the Moon, which fits neatly into the ‘American exceptionalism’ narrative.

I’ll update this list if and when I find more promises.

The failed promises

NASA 🇺🇸

Space Exploration Initiative (1989)

• Promise: President George HW Bush announced plans to return to the Moon and eventually send humans to Mars.

• Outcome: Programme cancelled in 1993 under President Clinton after just four years.

Vision for Space Exploration (2004)

• Promise: President George W Bush announced plans to return humans to the Moon between 2015-2020, with initial goal of 2018.

• Outcome: Evolved into Constellation programme, which was later cancelled in 2010.

Constellation Programme (2005-2010)

• Promise: Return astronauts to the Moon by 2020 using Ares rockets and Orion spacecraft.

• Outcome: Cancelled by Obama administration in 2010 after spending over $9 billion, deemed ‘over budget, behind schedule, and lacking in innovation’.

Artemis Programme (2017-present)

• Promise: Trump’s Space Policy Directive 1 (2017) initially aimed for Moon landing by 2024.

• Delays:

  • 2024 → 2026 (announced January 2024)

  • 2026 → 2027 (announced 2025)

  • 2027 → 2028 (announced March 2026)

• Recent changes: Artemis 3 lunar landing mission cancelled entirely in February 2026, replaced with orbital docking test.

VIPER Moon Rover

• Promise: $450 million ice-hunting rover for lunar exploration.

• Outcome: Cancelled in July 2024 due to budget constraints.

SpaceX 🇺🇸

Dear Moon Mission

• Promise: Private lunar flyby mission with Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa and crew of artists, originally planned for 2023.

• Outcome: Cancelled in June 2024 due to delays with Starship development.

Starship Lunar Lander

• Promise: Key component of NASA’s Artemis programme for landing astronauts on Moon.

• Status: Significant delays affecting entire Artemis timeline, contributing to mission postponements.

Russia 🇷🇺

Luna Programme Revival

• Promise: Putin announced in 2022 that Russia would restart Moon landings.

• Setbacks:

  • Luna-25 mission crashed on lunar surface in August 2023

  • Luna-26 mission delayed from 2027 to 2028 due to sanctions and technical issues

  • Venus missions also delayed to 2036

European Space Agency 🇪🇺

Luna Collaboration with Russia

• Promise: Joint Luna missions (Luna-25, 26, 27) with Russia.

• Outcome: Cooperation ended in April 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, ESA retrieved its hardware.

Japan 🇯🇵

Martian Moons eXploration (MMX)

• Promise: Sample return mission from Mars’ moon Phobos, originally scheduled for 2024.

• Outcome: Delayed to 2026 due to H3 rocket problems.

India 🇮🇳

Chandrayaan-2

• Promise: Moon mission originally planned for launch in 2016.

• Delays:

  • December 2016 → October 2018 → January 2019 → July 2019 (final launch)

  • Multiple technical delays over nearly three years

Human Lunar Mission

• Promise: ISRO has discussed potential crewed lunar missions.

• Status: Delayed indefinitely due to launch vehicle reliability concerns.

China 🇨🇳

Crewed Lunar Landing

• Promise: Maintain target of crewed Moon landing by 2030.

• Status: Currently on track with no major announced delays, though timeline remains ambitious.

How is this possible?

I mean, how did they manage it over half a century ago, yet have no ability to do it now?

Maybe it's because, back in the 60s, they didn't imagine a world with the internet and accountability from millions of people scrutinising their claims.

We leave you much that is undone. There are great ideas undiscovered, breakthroughs available to those who can remove one of truth’s protective layers.

— Neil Armstrong, 1994

Why did Neil speak so cryptically?

What did he mean?

After all, walking on the Moon is probably humanity's greatest achievement, right?

So why did he avoid interviews, and why did he express no excitement about all of it?

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