I do sometimes think, however, that for a certain kind of person, Bezos and Musk are becoming associated or even synonymous with spaceflight/exploration generally, which is a dangerous association to make. People have many, diverse and very legitimate reasons for going to space - there’s a lot more going on than joyrides and ego trips.

I do want to elaborate on that, if you don’t mind.

I’m all for spaceflight and mars settlement because it has many advantages. One of the most relevant ones is that it can stimulate the economy. Think about what the 1960s Moon mission did to the US: It inspired people and created jobs. Now think mars settlement could do something similar, but bigger. That in itself is a big win for the US, though there are more reasons to go, such as technological breakthrough and getting rid of the billionaires from Earth. There are more reasons to go, ofc, such as distracting Trump from wreaking havoc on the environment and minorities (remember: trump bashes against minorities because he needs to keep his voters voting for him by demonstrating power. If he can do something less destructive to demonstrate power, such as helping make settlements on mars, that hopefully is enough to satisfy his voters and makes it easier to shift his focus away from minorities).