We haven't been there in nearly four decades and most of the people who worked on the project are dead. It woudl take an entirely new project with new people to figure out how to get there for us to go back.

Used in this context also

no Apollo and other space programs, no cell phone (eventually).

I know that is an oversimplification but it's hard NOT to see what the space program did for all of us today...

...and I'm old enough to remember those rocket launches that were so famously photographed and filmed that didn't get off the ground and failed spectacularly...

What would happen if someone wanted the country to go back to the moon? Would it happen? It's far more likely that the Republicans, in particular, would block such an effort and demand the money be spent on tax cuts instead.