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An animated 3-D model of the moon, shown on a black background.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n A 3-D model of the moon with the near side in view. It reads: This is the side of the moon we see from Earth<\/span><\/p>\n <\/div>\n In the first era of moon exploration, NASA and the Soviet Union focused on the near side of the moon, where there was direct radio communication with Earth.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A 3-D model of the moon with the near side in view and circles for landing and crash sites, including Luna 9, 1966 (U.S.S.R.) and Apollo 11 and Apollo 12 (both in 1969, U.S.A).<\/span><\/p>\n <\/div>\n Today, NASA and other space agencies, like those of China and India, are intrigued by the far side of the moon, which is out of view from Earth\u2026<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A 3-D model of the moon with the far side in view and circles for landing and crash sites, including Chang\u2019e 4, 2019 (China) and Chang\u2019e 6, 2024 (China).<\/span><\/p>\n <\/div>\n \u2026as well as the polar regions.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A 3-D model of the moon with the south pole in view and circles for landing and crash sites, including the same Chang\u2019e missions and also Chandrayaan-3, 2023 (India).<\/span><\/p>\n <\/div>\n A new lunar race is now underway: The United States wants to land humans back on the moon by 2028, two years ahead of China. But the motivations are somewhat different from what put men on its surface 50 years ago.<\/p>\n There is water at the moon\u2019s poles, frozen in the eternal shadows within craters.<\/div>\n <\/p>\n Water molecules can be broken apart into hydrogen and oxygen. If countries set up moon bases there, the oxygen could provide breathable air, and hydrogen and oxygen could be used as rocket propellants. Astronauts could also get their drinking water from the moon\u2019s ice. NASA has identified potential landing sites in this area, and China wants to build<\/a> outposts around the moon\u2019s south pole.<\/p>\n For scientists, the water and other chemicals trapped in the shadowed regions could provide a record of comet and asteroid impacts. Cores drilled from the crater floors could provide a history of the solar system stretching back 4.5 billion years, similar to how ice cores extracted from Greenland and Antarctica tell of Earth\u2019s climate over the past few thousand years.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/h2>\n