Saturday is the 50th anniversary of one of the greatest triumphs in history: man’s first steps on the moon. Repeat those words to yourself — man walked on the moon — and let them sink in. It is an extraordinary and marvelous thing that America did way back in the summer of 1969.

This anniversary should awaken the nation to the need to get back to the moon and to venture beyond it out into the solar system. It is one of the federal government’s biggest mistakes that it has allowed 47 years to elapse since anyone left a footprint in the silvery dust of our nearest neighbor in space.