I’ll tell you this, no one from ‘68 would have been able to imagine that nearly a half century (and perhaps much longer) would pass with no human presence on the moon.
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There was a reason. Too much unexplainable stuff on the moon - they were spooked. The Navy’s 1994 Clementine Mission mapped the entire surface of the moon and the Hi-Res images remained classified or inaccessible for decades. Then the satellite disappeared, then decades later reappeared still broadcasting. Too much unexplainable stuff as I said.
How about something simple. It was no longer was politically fashionable for the right and particularly the left to support manned space travel. Remember Ralph Abernathy’s Poor People’s Caravan to Kennedy Space Center during the last Apollo Moon mission. It got more coverage then the Apollo mission - Apollo 17. I remember that ! Then add in “environmental issues” & spend money on earth was the hue & cry. What money NASA had went into the very poorly designed flying bomb I mean shuttle. Soon the public was herded into national navel gazing.