Quote Originally Posted by halfeye View Post
I would say it's long past the time for that. The Apollo Program was 50 years ago. So far, we've sunk Skylab and are about to sink the ISS, space colonisation shouldn't be science fiction at this point, but it still is. Space: 1999 was a TV series in the 1970s. We still aren't anywhere near that advanced in space colonisation.
Yeah, USG space exploration has definitely turned away from colonization. Robotic probes and stuff have taken its place. This is cool, and is of some use of course, but our best hope for colonization probably lies with SpaceX and competitors. Currently, the roster of competitors is pretty thin, with the best of them having a mere handful of launches, but they are all aiming for bigger and better things.

Heck, if you have the large pile of money, you can actually commission a Mars flight from SpaceX right now. I do not have a pile of money that large, but this is the first time in history that this has been a sort of practical option for anyone.

It is kind of sad that we went to the moon, and then...stopped. But at least there's now hope for a resumption of it.

Sure, evolution and natural selection is what it is, there will always be competition, but we ought to be in space in a much bigger way than we are by now. By the time we get to the far side of the galaxy, the people on one side won't be able to breed with those on the other side, but they'll all be earth-life (supposing we don't meet aliens, which is an unknown).
Presuming we started on earth, of course. Panspermia still gets tossed about from time to time. Dunno that it can be proven in any real way, but I suppose some uncertainty is likely to persist about our ultimate origins.

Not really disagreeing about the nature of exploration, just rambling.