[tscrib]

As much as I want to commiserate with you about sending humans into space - I have to remind myself that this is an escapist's fantasy. I am also an engineer, and a realist.

We just happen to be tied to a water-filled, fertile, and atmospherically suitable planet - the only one of this kind we can reach with our current technology. Looking to the stars is an easy way to ignore problems of over-consumption, over-population and climate change. If we don't figure out how to live on this planet, we are doomed to repeat the same mistakes elsewhere.

Let's pull our gaze back down to Earth: our capital is better spent addressing Earthly problems vice sending us out on an inter-planetary expedition.

[lukifer]

I think there's a middle way: double-down on sending robots to space, which technologically and economically spurs innovation and sustainability on earth, that we might someday be in a position to send humans to space for extended stays.

Planetary Resources is going in the right direction. Capturing humanity's imagination is a good start; capturing their investment capital is what actually gets things done.

[tscrib]

I'd second that. By no means would I want to see space exploration stop. I just don't think we should be looking to live elsewhere when we can't live here.