Did I say anything about colonizing the moon? No, I didn't.

There's a line from the movie Apollo 13 where Lovell says something like "We're on step 8, you're talking about step 637." It's essential to have dreams, but when you're talking about the American space program of the very early 21st century, I don't know if the word "colonization" can realistically appear on the next page in our playbook. Don't get me wrong, I share your dream. But I don't expect to live long enough to see hamlets on Mars, much less cities.

And the point list you enumerate, while of great interest to space enthusiasts, is exactly the sort of stuff that makes most people's eyes glaze over and wish we'd just shut up, fer goodness sakes. I don't know about you, but even though I was young I found Apollo absolutely fascinating right up to the very bitter end. What we find riviting may not be enough even to keep the general population awake. Do you really expect hydrocarbons, fused silica and pressure suit design will galvanize humanity's interest?

IMO--once again--a space program dependant upon public fascination is doomed to limp along in fits and bursts. NASA has to simply get on with it's business, ignored if need be. In fact, that might be preferred to laboring under the spotlights. That way it won't be tempted to pick its targets based on the temporary interests of a fickle public.

Obviously, Mars is a very worthy goal. Is anyone here disputing that? But there are countless other interesting and worthy goals in our solar system. I'd like to see us able to get to them, too. After all, are we talking about a Mars-faring civilization, or a space-faring one?