According to Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison Schmitt, human exploration of space embodies basic instincts—the exercise of freedom, betterment of one’s conditions, and curiosity about nature. These instincts have been manifested in desires for new homelands, trade, and knowledge. For Americans particularly, such instincts lie at the very core of our unique and special society of immigrants.
        Over the last 150,000 years or more, human exploration of Earth has yielded new homes, livelihoods, know how, and resources as well as improved standards of living and increased family security. In historical times, governments have directly and indirectly played a role in encouraging exploration efforts. Private groups and individuals often have taken additional initiatives to explore newly discovered or newly accessible lands and seas. Based on their specific historical experience, Americans can expect that the benefits sought and won in the past also will flow from their return to the Moon, future exploration of Mars, and the long reach beyond. To realize such benefits, however, Americans must continue as leaders of human activities in space.
        With a permanent resumption of the exploration of deep space, one thing is certain: our efforts will be comparable to those of our ancestors as they migrated out of Africa and into a global habitat. Further, a permanent human presence away from Earth, argues Dr. Schmitt, provides another opportunity for the expansion of free institutions, with all their attendant rewards, as humans face new situations and new individual and societal challenges.

 Harrison H. Schmitt served as Lunar Module Pilot for Apollo 17—the last Apollo mission to the moon. On December 11, 1972, he landed in the Valley of Taurus-Littrow as the only scientist and the last of 12 men to step on the moon. He founded and is Chairman of Interlune-Intermars Initiative, Inc., advancing the private sector’s acquisition of lunar resources and Helium-3 fusion power and clinical use of medical isotopes produced by fusion-related processes. Dr. Schmitt’s most recent book, Return to the Moon, was published in November 2005. He has a B.S. from CalTech and a Ph.D. in geology from Harvard.