"Since Sputnik was launched over 50 years ago and the first human walked on the moon 12 years later, we have associated the exploration and colonization of space, specifically the Moon and Mars, as a necessary pursuit to guarantee our survival as a species, and to satisfy an evolutionary drive to explore and inhabit worlds beyond our own. Space enthusiasts claim that it is our manifest destiny, an expression of the human spirit, to explore and colonize the solar system. World-renowned scientists such as Stephen Hawking have made calls to colonize the Moon and Mars in order to preserve the species due to the inevitability of certain future doom on Earth by environmental destruction, plague or warfare. Commercial space developers promise private trips to space and beyond, infusing dreams of space wanderlust and enthusiasm for space travel in citizens who could never even afford such expensive and lofty excursions. Corporate space interests promise the certainty of achieving these goals along with new technological advances and resource riches from space exploration that will rival those gained from the Apollo moon missions. This article will examine the validity of these threats and promises, and their environmental and ethical consequences to life on Earth." Download to continue reading...