As Matt Mahoney puts it, “the celebration of the Apollo 11 fortieth anniversary renews the debate over the scientific value of manned space exploration” (“One Small Step for Science?” September-October 2009). It surely does. But, as I have written on many occasions, including several letters to The Technology Review, the debate cannot escape the simplest of conclusions: manned space exploration makes sense only in the context of colonization of space. Once this goal is abandoned, the scientific value of manned space exploration is zero. Zilch. Robots can provide all the pictures and measurements and even samples we may wish to explore in our laboratories down on earth. Sadly, Mahoney does not even mention colonization of space. It seems to have been abandoned for good, indeed. The only guarantee of human survival beyond the survival of the earth is thus relinquished to sweet daydreams. God bless science fiction!