Project High Ground's stated purpose was to establish an orbital watchdog on the Apollo group asteroids. Those that could affect Earth by lithobreaking. Steven Ashby, famed astronaut and Moon walker used his influence within the mostly morbid space community to get the project going. He brought on board as many of the old school engineer astronauts as he could.
The real reason for Project High Ground was to get back to the Moon and get their hands on The Gadget, a 23th century warp shuttle left behind by the Ane History Scouts.
The mission in total took a little over a year, and using off the shelf technology got to the far side of the Moon and retrieved the Gadget. In the process they set several firsts. First woman on the Moon, First foot prints on Mars, and first Humans faster than light. They talked Galan into a real First Contact.
The fallout from Project High Ground has been profound. Earth knows it is not alone in the Galaxy. Some have taken that revelation as impetus to be ready to welcome the rest of the Galaxy, other have seen it as a reason for retrenchment and suspicion.
Project High Ground became The Warp Drive Project.