The Moon Should Be the 51st State, and Other Space Dreams From Newt Gingrich
At the sunset of Newt Gingrich's putative presidency, the moon would be the 51st state, colonized by permanent American settlers. Tourists would honeymoon in low-Earth orbit, space factories would manufacture goods in microgravity, and America would have a rocket powerful enough to send us to Mars. This is all according to a discussion Gingrich hosted Wednesday in Florida, which holds its presidential primary next Tuesday and which lost thousands of jobs as the space shuttle program drew to a close last year. But this is Gingrich talking, so it's safe to say this isn't all politics. A self-professed space nut and fan of science, Gingrich has dreamt of a lunar colony for decades. Even if this dream is inherently irrational: "The reason you have to have a bold and large vision is you don't arouse the American nation with trivial, bureaucratically rational objectives," Gingrich said. It's odd for a politician to...