Donald Trump wants America back on the moon.
And he wants us back before foreign rivals like China beat us to it.
That's why the White House is now asking Congress for an additional $1.6 billion to bankroll a manned trip to the Earth's natural satellite by 2024 - four years ahead of the original target date.
This funding would come on top of the $21 billion the administration proposed in its FY2020 budget request, pushing the total to nearly $23 billion.
The timing of the announcement is appropriate, as July will mark the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission.
That's not where the coincidences end, either.
This new mission will be called "Artemis" - named after the Greek goddess of the hunt and the moon, and Apollo's twin sister.
And furthermore, as Vice President Mike Pence pointed out at a meeting of the National Space Council, America today is locked in a space race similar to the one it won decades ago.
"What we need now is urgency," said Pence. "Make no mistake about it, we're in a space race today, just as we were in the 1960s, and the stakes are even higher."
Indeed, the moon has transformed almost overnight from a cold, if not romantic curiosity, to a hotbed for scientific research and logistical planning.
In fact, it's even become something of a battleground, with world powers vying to install military assets on its surface.
America's competition came into crisp focus in January when China landed a spacecraft on the far side of the moon - a historic first. Earlier this week, that lander, Chang'e 4, relayed new and valuable information about the composition of the lunar surface at the South Pole-Aitken Basin.
China is already gearing up to top that with a second mission scheduled to launch later this year.
In fact, 2019 is poised to set a record for the most soft lunar landings in a single year - topping both 1966 and 1972, which each boasted three. And that record will likely be broken again and again over the next decade. Especially since, this time around, commercial interests are joining in, too.
Elon Musk's SpaceX has already launched a lunar lander on behalf of Israel. And Jeff Bezos' rocket venture Blue Origin is anticipating its own manned moon mission in 2024.
If you're wondering what's behind this sudden spike in interest, it's because the world has come to realize the moon's strategic value.