So they came by the thousands – kids really, twenty-somethings, a few in their thirties. No one knew for sure how to get to the moon, how to land, or get home. But their goal was clear-cut, and that was enough. That gave them purpose: a reason to puzzle out the problems and seek solutions rather than sleep. —Team Moon: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon, Catherine Thimmesh Why does the author mention the uncertainty of how to get to the moon and back? to let the reader know that the mission was doomed from the start to explain that NASA had hired people who were not up to the task to show how difficult the task was and how important the solutions would be to explain why so many people needed to be involved in the project