Today in the New York Times, astronaut Buzz Aldrin writes an op-ed about the future of the space program. Bless him for thinking grandly. He's absolutely right - we should be thinking big, and building a space station out at L1 (the most obvious of the Lagrange points). It makes a lot of sense - the energetic cost of launching from L1 is much, much less than an earthside launch, and since it is close to the moon, we may be able to mine the moon for materials and fuel which would make things even less costly from an energy standpoint. Even Mobile Suit Gundam knows about the Lagrange points. Maybe someday we'll get our act together and do it. Unfortunately, the bureaucratic culture of today's world will probably doom mankind to extinction on this rock we call Earth...