This year marks 46 years since Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on the moon . In all , 12 American astronauts have walked on the moon , the last - Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt - doing so in 1972 . Enthusiasm for space travel has always decreased and increased . In 2010 , President Barack Obama cut funds for a NASA mission that would have put humans back on the moon by 2020 . " I understand that some believe that we should attempt a return to the surface of the moon first , as previously planned . But I just have to say here : We've been there before , " Obama said . NASA Administrator Charles Bolden has also thrown cold water on the idea of a return mission to the moon . But others believe there are benefits to going back to the moon . " It's the closest body to us , making it the least challenging to explore of all the planets , moons and asteroids in our solar system , " wrote Gene R. Grush , from NASA Johnson Space Center . " It's an opportunity to establish a permanent presence off Earth - a moon base for scientists or a colony for all of humanity . " " There is a lot of good science on the moon that we've only scratched the surface on , " said former astronaut Tom Jones . Richard Vondrak , from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center , agrees , saying , " Astronauts can accomplish scientific exploration that is beyond the capability of robotic explorers . " And then there's the private business . In the last few years , several private companies - including Elon Musk's SpaceX - have launched rockets of their own , ending the national control over space flight . NASA is even considering a partnership with SpaceX , and Musk has said that if demand to go to the moon exists , his company will help fill it . Meanwhile , Buzz Aldrin , the second person to walk on the moon , believes that there's a much better target for exploration : Mars . " We've done the moon - we understand it better than anything else , " Aldrin said . " We've got to start thinking of long-term investments . " According to the passage , we can learn that   _   .
President Barack Obama thought people should attempt to return to the moon all the astronauts who have been to the moon don't agree to go back there people are always obsessed with space travel Elon Musk's SpaceX belongs to NASA