[livius]

Good article. I think the moon proposal is one of the most exciting things Gingrich has come up with. And people seem to be missing the fact that he is not expecting the government to do it, but simply to encourage private individuals to do it. This would be done by simplifying regulations and red tape, reducing the size of NASA and making its work administrative rather than expecting NASA to build the projects itself, and encouraging private participation not through huge risky loans, but through prizes and competitions. (After all, as he points out, Lindbergh flew to Paris for a $25,000 prize.)

If we had six or seven space flights a day taking off from Florida (or from Texas or some other place with suitable conditions) and an active spaceport, imagine how our economies would boom! And the mineral wealth would stimulate all sorts of other industries and provide sources that would be under our control, an important consideration.

Otherwise, they'll be under Chinese control. They have said they will get to the moon by 2020, and if they get there, you can bet they're going to take it over.

[SlargTarg]

And people seem to be missing the fact that he is not expecting the government to do it, but simply to encourage private individuals to do it.

This is disingenuous, there is no possible profit to be made from a moon base and no venture capitalist would risk money on it.

When politicians say a "private" space company, what they really mean is private contractors funded by government instead of giving the money directly to NASA.

Its not free market capitalism by any measure.