NPR.org » On Florida’s Space Coast, Gingrich Aims For The Moon
http://m.npr.org/story/145882817?url=/2012/01/26/145882817/-president-gingrich-promises-permanent-moon-base&ps=cprs

‘The First Permanent Base On The Moon’

The space shuttle mission ended last year and with it the possibility of any imminent manned space flight. It also meant job losses on the Space Coast and a lack of a well-defined mission for NASA.

If elected, Gingrich promised, “by the end of my second term, we will have the first permanent base on the moon, and it will be American.”

Gingrich said he would encourage commercial activities in space, including science, tourism and manufacturing. And he promises, in about eight years, a rocket capable of reaching Mars.

Gingrich gave no details on how much a re-energized space program might cost or how he proposes to pay for it, except to say that commercial interests might be promised prizes in the billions of dollars for developing the hardware.

Details, p’shaw, those are for the devils to figure out.