Moon exploration hinged on the possibility of moon mining. The yanks no longer spend massively on the moon because 1)cost 2)controlled nuke fusion hasn't come along fast as once expected. 

The apollo program was more a cold war era PR rush to beat the russ

http://zzwave.com/plaboard/posts/3958583.shtml

http://zzwave.com/plaboard/posts/3958667.shtml