Is this a flight of fancy? Perhaps.  How should Christians respond to this?  In previous centuries they have done so by getting ministers on to the First Fleet and following things up with a bunch of missionaries.  I wonder…

I’m a space exploration tragic from way back.  What is also tragic is that thirty years after it first flew the Space Shuttle is still the most advanced manned space transport the world has got – and it’s just about to finish.

They’ll always be pragmatic arguments about whether space is worth sending people into, whether the money should be used for welfare (or wars even), and whether or not it should be governments or private practice that should do the investing.  Whatever, that’s just implementation detail.  Human’s have an inherent desire and ability to explore and colonise, settle and extend.

In previous centuries the explorers and colonisers from the Western World were motivated by four factors: 1) Political positioning, 2) The making of money, 4) Scientific enquiry, 3) Religious fanaticism.  I wonder if they are still powerful enough to escape low-earth orbit.