Toward the end of the Eisenhower presidency in the late 1950s it was widely assumed the Soviet Union would beat the United States to the moon and once there instruct its cosmonauts to patriotically claim the orb in the name of Russia while bombarding Earth with Communist propaganda. Thanks to John Kennedy’s ambitious space program, that’s not how it turned out. America was first to the moon in 1969 and followed its initial landing with five more in three years. Neil Armstrong, the original moonman, had no jingoistic remarks to offer in his first transmission. He spoke instead of a “giant leap for mankind” and was universally embraced, as was the U.S. NASA ended its lunar program in 1972 and began investigating a manned Mars mission as that planet seemed infinitely more promising than the barren moon. That funding never materialized, and NASA was forced instead into the space shuttle program, which by hauling a variety of satellites (many from the military and tech companies) into space seemed more commercially gainful. But in the end, even the shuttle, which suffered two major disasters, faded from sight and mind. Now, a driven president with a Sun King ego has decided to force a new lunar landing mission expected, after trial orbits around the moon, to make landfall later this year. His efforts are motivated at least in part by a Chinese wish to put its own people on the moon by 2029. The American stunt — what else to call it? — has less to do with science and humanity (the moon is after all old hat) than one leader’s wish to place a new feather in his cap. A moon escapade pumped up by social media may well go heavy on chauvinism and flag plantings, though this time a woman or two might do the honors. In a word, the project will be an exercise in White House contrivance. All the while as lonely Mars awaits its Magellan.