Is there at least one reason why we need to return to the Moon? Or anywhere else outside of the Earth atmosphere…
There is one reason and only one reason that I can think of for going beyond to atmosphere and that’s comsats. As far as sending people to the moon or even more absurd Mars I can’t think of a single reason to do it. Looking at the Apollo missions to put it in perspective they brought back about 850 lb of moon rocks at a cost in 2020 dollars of $257 billion. This works out to $302 million a lb. In 2020 dollars. Kind of a waste of money.