Forty years after Apollo – No to Mars

Doorknob bless Buzz Aldrin, his overcoming his post-Apollo 11 depression and drinking issues, his efforts for space issues and more, but, perhaps even more now than when this argument was used against his own flight in the 1960s, we have too much to do here on Earth to even consider manned flight to Mars. Beyond that, we’re not close to working out psychological issues of that length of isolation, nor do we have any idea yet what sort of cosmic-ray damage astronauts would suffer.

That’s all true just for a manned trip; it applies in spades to his idea for a colony, which would surely cost at least $1 trillion to set up. (Buzz dodges price issues as well as technical difficulties.)