So when President Trump signed a policy directive on Wednesday for a US-led programme for a human return to the Moon, I cheered.
"This time, we will not only plant our flag and leave our footprints, we will establish a foundation for an eventual mission to Mars, and beyond."
That's the first thing Trump has said that I'm fully in agreement with.
Because, let's face it, we've pretty much trashed Earth. If we don't find ways, soon, to go out and survive elsewhere, the race's future is uncertain at best.
Serendipitous perhaps that less than a month ago astronomers noted the presence of an odd cigar-shaped object that had just passed through the Earth's orbit, and which has now been confirmed as the first known interstellar visitor – coming from some other solar system.
Indeed, some scientists are hopeful it may even be proven an alien artefact; its anomalous shape (most asteroids are predominantly globular) and dense inert makeup (it sheds no detectable dust or gases) have lent credence to this possibility.
And while the team intently listening for any emissions the object may be making may not find that proof, its existence, coupled with the new American aims, could spark a resurgence of interest in space – and inspire the next brood of astronauts.
It's been named Oumuamua - Hawaiian for "a messenger from afar arriving first". A name an alien tongue may one day label the first spaceship from Earth.
• Bruce Bisset is a freelance writer and poet.
• Views expressed here are the writer's opinion and not the newspaper's.