Well, let's hope it won't end like SEI.
Or like NCOS.

A capsule returning back from LEO shouldn't be that different from one returning back from other space-places, so I wonder what the discussions are about.

If we want to send humans somewhere outside of LEO, we should first think about the HLLV and the same kind can be used for the Moon, asteroids, Mars, Venus, Mercury...
No HLLV, no humans outside of LEO.

But why insist on colonies?
I remember Ilya Taitslin comparing "would be" Mars colonists or interstellar Ark-Travellers to religious fanatics ready to abandon everything. It's akin to sect members who don't want to have any relationship with mankind anymore.
No government (nor bank) will ever finance a one way expedition with no hope to reap benefits (if there are) from settlers (as they're likely going to want to become independant from their original contry).

What the Voyager spacecrafts and the 46 years of presence in space have tought us, was that every single world, in the Solar System, is different from the next one. Every planet, every moon has its characteristics, its history, its geology. And first we must understand them, then the human mind (and there is no shortage of ideas on this planet) can figure out ways to use those celestial bodies in order to expand our knowledge even further, to use them for our energy consumption, as a habitat, as a resort , or whatever we'll think is most attractive.

All those worlds also have serious limitations and we must also understand them. It's out of the question to use the Moon the same way we'd use Venus or Mars, for instance.
Gerard O'Neill once asked his students: what's the best way to settle outside of Earth? They came up with the huge space station at L5. Now, we think of Mars instead. But that's mainly thanks to Zubrin's way of shaking up people.

I don't know what's best; I think first the HLLV should be approved.

And this week's solar events should also remind us that even though we aren't at all in a Maximum Solar activity period (this was in 2000-2001), solar storms can still happen. A trip to the Moon takes 60 hours; it takes 180 days for Mars.

Raoul