New manned missions to Moon, Mars --- what do you think?

First off I'm pretty sure I got more brains than a rock, seeing as how a rock is inanimate and non-living and all.

Secondly I doubt we'll make it to mars, not this time around anyway. Mars would require a massive investment of resources, perhaps more than anything else ever before in the history of humanity. Don't think we got the discipline to pull that now.

The moon on the other hand is a known quantity, we know exactly what we're getting ourselves into here. Been there done that, the moon may also possess exploitable resources, making it an even better target, in addition to an easy target. A permanent off planet colony could be established within a decade, with material returns on the investment not long after becoming firmly established.

Not only that but the moon is safer, a crew en-route to, or already on it, is not beyond the abilty to rescue. A mars mission however would be.

We need to colonize space or we will one day go extinct like the dinosaurs, it's not a matter of "if" but "when" and "how". We cannot continue to be a one planet species. We have the ability and I believe responsibility to settle space and bring "lower life forms" with us to prevent their extinction as well. Besides, we will need them for food, we need to have plants for O2 production, global warming on Mars would be a good thing, and so on. Once we get into space, we will need to come up with new technology and perfect it in order to survive, and the knowledge gained will help every human in space and on Earth. If we sit and stagnate in this little pond, it will one day dry up and us along with it. If we settle space, we will find we can do things we thought were impossible a short time ago, and the sky is literally the limit. Once we leave the cradle of low earth orbit, we can spread out and in time we can do anything that is possible to do and go wherever it is possible to go. The journey starts now, are you ready?

Id go as long as they legalize weed in space :)