I happened to notice Venus (in our West facing skylight) last night. Got out the 8 power binoc's, and do believe I could discern a disk, and it was maybe crescent.
I get dibs on one of the three Moon Rovers still on the Moon. Old tech, roughly abused by the best test pilots in the business, but still goodies! The Rovers were researched & built in our Washington state, in Kent by Boeing.
Oh, you meant, "....everyone selected to go to the Moon, again. " I knew there was a catch somewhere!
This would be pretty nifty: NASA funds proposal to build a telescope on the far side of the moon | Space Because radio wavelengths that we think about in terms of ham radio, international shortwave broadcasts and CB chatter have very distant sources that got stretched way out by going away so fast. It seems impossible to predict what can be imaged from there. So, if you go to the moon either stay on Jackie Gleason side or maintain radio silence, okay?
Counterpoint to the op: If we make big mistakes on the moon, it could lead to serious impacts on Earth. Better, in my view, to go straight to Mars as our first off-world colony.
IMHO, I like the far-side of the moon for both radio and optical astronomy. Mars has too much atmosphere. Bob Wilson
I'm not seeing the moon so much as a colony as a good place to try out the whole mass of different techniques that we will need to live out in the black.
Moon is nearby and useful. Much has been made of helium-3 isotope there for fusion energy on earth. Actual measurements later will speak to that potential harvest. Being 'near' and with a shallow gravity well seems good for practice and training before going further. Far-side radio astronomy was already described. On the very slight chance that an evil exp-civilization would come with a conquering fleet, hiding behind moon is EASY for them until it gets policed better. After hyper rich have suborbital and orbital 'adventures', only moon offers more.
My wife and I just reread Heinlein's science fiction yarn "Have Space Suit Will Travel". It's considered "young adult reading", about my speed, lol. Alien meanies on the moon, envisioned in 1958.
