re: Noble effort.
Actually, the first beings to really "discover" America were some single-celled organisms washed upon the shore of what one day would become America, about 3 to 4 billion years ago.
They decided to hang out for a while on the beach, figuring what harm could it do?
Of course I always get a kick out of the theory that all Earth life is the result of some refuse left by a visiting litterbug ETI aeons ago.