I would be in favor of it IF the governments of the world would actually do something with space exploration, but they don't. They send up high school science experiments and PR. That's neither science nor exploration.

We have to get off of this rock. We desperately need some off-site backup, even if only in Luna, because between our own lack of good housekeeping and God's Floating Rock Garden, Earth's in trouble. We humans have done a lot of bad, but we've got great potential and a pretty decent track record for good, and I want to see how the story ends. We need to have some of us in places that aren't THIS ROCK.

So if governments won't see that it's a heck of a lot easier to remodel and restore when you're not living in the house, then private organizations have to do it, and that means having a vacation house.

Yes, it starts with sending postcards into space and bringing them back, or rolling up Flat Stanleys and putting them in short orbit. Yes, it starts with lots of money and profit, but it gets the work done, and we have to get off of this planet.

(N.B. I write educational materials for Beyond Earth Launch services, a company that does sub-orbital stress testing for components to be used in space flight. I know a lot of the key players in the private space launch sector, and with one single exception, every one of them is a geek raised on Science Fiction and the Apollo missions. All of them are driven by a desire to go into space and to further the science and pioneering of space. Most of them are effectually broke, having spent every dime they have on making this dream happen. While a few of them hope that someday they will reap the profits of their labors (and god knows I hope they do; their dedication should be rewarded) most of us don't ever expect to become fabulously wealthy. As long as we can continue to pay our mortgages, shoe our children and eat something other than oatmeal three times a day, we're happy and fulfilled and motivated to make space accessible for real people.)

Besides, do you really trust these governments to be any better about protecting and preserving space and the environments than a private company? Space is wonderful in that any trashing causes nearly immediate consequences -- leave a piece of junk in orbit, and it's pretty likely that it will give you a nice hole in your airtank. While I really don't have a problem with bundling hazardous waste onto a rocket and aiming it at the sun, closer garbage has to be picked up and cleaned up or it will hurt.

And as for private ownership... if it is wrong to own a patch of the moon and take resources from it, then it is wrong to own a patch of earth and take resources from it. Building a solar farm on the moon to send electricity back to earth via microwave relay satellites (the most plausile use of the moon's resources; that and being at the top of a nice big gravity well) doesn't damage the moon, and makes it easier to clean up this planet so that it can have green hills and plains again.

In a thousand years, our descendants will be appalled that we made it to the moon and didn't go back if we don't get moving. I don't want to have to try to explain why Proxmiring hurt the future so badly.