Mr. Gingrich loves the idea of establishing a lunar colony to exploit the moon’s mineral resources. Mitt Romney, Gingrich’s top challenger for the nomination, chose that as his top example of an area of disagreement with Gingrich at the Dec. 10 debate.
“I'm not in favor of spending that kind of money to do that,” said Mr. Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts.
Gingrich’s response: “I'm happy to defend the idea that America should be in space and should be there in an aggressive, entrepreneurial way.”
The former speaker mentioned moon colonies at a recent town hall meeting in Bluffton, S.C., when a student asked about working for NASA. But it’s not clear that Gingrich believes lunar colonies should be funded publicly. In the past, he has proposed cutting back on NASA and incentivizing private companies to offer space travel.
