I feel this is a why-not-both thing. We should fix our house and explore. We have enough people and capability to do both if we are politically and mentally willing.

Yeah. If anything, not having our house in order is even more motivation to create offsite backups.

We can and should do both. Our emphasis should indeed be on not shitting the bed. But we should also look for new beds. The big problem is that Mars at its best is worse than Earth at its worst. The Earth in "The Road", or almost any post-apocalyptic story, is still infinitely more livable than Mars!

Which problems do we need to solve before you would deem our species worthy of survival?

This is such a tired and simplistic take. The space program has been helpful in tidying our home. It’s not an either or choice.

That is a lie that is conveniently told to preserve the legacy of the Apollo program and the morale of the Nation, as well as the legacy of one of the most beloved figures in the history of the Nation: JFK , who by the way, when you start to dig deeper emerges to be just a younger Trump.

We literally have satellites in space that monitor the atmosphere and detect greenhouse gas emissions.

> > We literally have satellites in space that monitor the atmosphere and detect greenhouse gas emissions.

So monitor stuff that you can't do nothing about. Great

As far as weather goes you don't need satellites. Baloons, planes, radars, drones, buoys do exist and paint a picture which is 99% the same.

The Apollo program failed to repay itself, plain and simple. Unlike the Manhattan project and the rocket designs stolen from the Nazis and developed by Von Braun which kept us safe for 50 years now.