A couple of weeks ago, Burt Rutan and his partners, including Richard Branson of Virgin Air and Virgin Megastores, sent SpaceshipOne into suborbital space and I was reminded of an old Robert Heinlein story, “The Man Who Sold The Moon.”
In the story, a rich man sees the possibilities of going to the moon and sets out to begin the first commercial enterprise there. It’s a good story. You should look it up and read it. If you do so, it may start your mind to pondering why we have not gone back to the moon. We did it several times back in the late 1960s and early ’70s and everyone thought those landings were the first steps to actually putting bases — maybe even cities — on the moon. But somehow those hopes have just not come to fruition. Somehow we lost the will or the desire or something, and in doing so made those noble exploration flights just stunts like Evel Knievel trying to jump the Grand Canyon. Not following up made them a total waste of money and lives.
Not so long ago George W. Bush made noises like he wanted us to go back to the moon. For a moment, I actually thought he might leave a real legacy amid the ruins of his presidency. But within a few weeks it became clear he was just talking to hear himself talk. He turned around and began hacking away at NASA and other agencies that might actually have gotten us to the moon and on to Mars. And that ended my hopes, but it did not make me forget the moon is still out there waiting.
Every science fiction writer worth his salt posits bases and cities on the moon. Most talk about the cities and bases being underground so they can more easily be sealed off from the harsh surface environment, which seems logical. But the point is that it could be done. It isn’t beyond our technology now.
We could be building bases and cities on the moon using the resources already there. We know for certain the moon is rich in minerals that can make building accommodations much easier. It can also make it possible to use Luna Base (or whatever you want to call it) as a stepping stone to the rest of the universe a real possibility. Launching probes both manned and unmanned would be much easier from the moon because of the lower gravity and lack of atmosphere. No worries there about frozen O-rings or ice blocks that rip off and tear wing surfaces. There’s no weather. No humidity. No wind.
We could launch a Mars probe from Luna for half what it would cost from here on Earth — if we had a moon base.
Of course, moon bases cost money, which brings us back to SpaceshipOne, Richard Branson, and Burt Rutan. They scrounged and begged and came up with the money to send the first nongovernmental craft into space. They did it on shoestring financing and faith; sweat equity in its truest form.
So why not take the money intended for the International Space Station, which even an old science fiction buff like me thinks is a waste, and throw it at Burt Rutan and Richard Branson. Let these guys use the money to go to the moon and establish bases there. Tourist hotels even. We could even make it a long-term loan, repayable when the lunar enterprise begins making money. Keep government out it, except as a bank.
It worked when the U.S. government gave land to the railroads so long as they put railroad tracks on it. And it could work again for going first to the moon and then to the rest of the universe.
G. LLOYD HELM
Lancaster, Calif.
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