Why go to the Moon?

Ever since I was a child I have been fascinated with space travel. I wanted to visit the moon by the time I was an adult. Well, I'm an adult now and my dreams will have to wait. However, I believe that we should move quickly to establish a permanent base on the moon, and that this should be followed by a permanent colony there are well.

Why? you might ask. Well, simply to do what human beings have long considered impossible: Live on another world, leave the earth and begin to colonize space. Simply because we can. There are many petty reasons, and a number of major, in-the-national-interest reasons as well.

Eventually we, as a species, will need to outgrow and move beyond our perilous existence on this planet. One large asteroid and we could be wiped out. With colonies on the Moon, Mars and perhaps even moons around Jupiter and Saturn, we would be extending our chances of survival in case of a major natural disaster.

There are also important industrial reasons for spreading amongst the stars. Sooner or later we are going out-populate the earth. It may be happening already, since we have more than six billion people breathing the air and drinking the water down here.

I believe that it will also give us anew and much needed perspective on who we are and why we are here. Without getting spiritual and religious, seeing the Earth from afar, and learning to cope and thrive on distant worlds will make us appreciate our humanness. Like pioneers of old, we will be forced to live by our wits, and in my interpretation of history, that is when we show how brilliant we can be.

Of course there will many benefits in technology, science and other important areas that will, hopefully, lead us to a better and more equitable future.

But most of all, I simply believe it would be a lot of fun just to walk around on the surface of the moon, or Mars, and see if I have what it takes to face the odds, survive, and live to write about it!