Why the stars?

I am so glad somebody referenced this article from 2007 and I had a chance to read it. You may not understand the conclusion if you don't read the article first, so do that... I'll wait.

...manned space exploration ... will make us better both individually and collectively; ... as individual human beings and as a nation. Anything else is an unconvincing lie. And it won’t work, either—it hasn’t before.

Will it make us better? It's easy to find some that will argue that it will not. The counter argument is simple. Imagine a solar system full of people living their lives. This means people being fulfilled, not gasping for air in a toxic environment. Happy people, enjoying life. Now take that vision away. Which is better?

The only counter is the one you will hear... it can't be done. They will be gasping. They will die. The only answer to that is to do it and prove those people wrong. They aren't going away otherwise. So it is up to those that believe in the vision to ignore those other folk and just do it.**

Which is one of the strongest arguments for it to be done commercially, because it is immoral to drag those naysayers along with us by forcing them to pay taxes for something they don't believe in. We don't need them. Commercial space is viable.

It is viable now.

** Inspiration Mars is a good example. It will forever put some naysayer arguments into the rear view mirror and landing will be the next logical step.