Gingrich: I want to build a moon base

By: Sarah Huisenga
Topics: Campaign 2012

Gingrich pledges to eliminate capital gains tax

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich

COCOA, Fla. - Appealing to residents of the state's economically struggling "Space Coast," Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich promised to have a permanent U.S. base on the moon by the end of his second term as president.

To cheers and applause in an area that has suffered major job loss since the cancellation of the space shuttle, Gingrich said, "By the end of my second term, we will have the first permanent base on the moon and it will be American.

"We will have commercial near-Earth activities that include science, tourism and manufacturing, and are designed to create a robust industry precisely on the model of the development of the airlines of the 1930s, because it is in our interest to acquire so much experience in space that we clearly have a capacity that the Chinese and the Russians will never come anywhere close to matching."

He also said that by the end of 2020, the country would have "the first continuous propulsion system in space" capable of allowing people travel to Mars.

"I am sick of being told we have to be timid and I am sick of being told we have to be limited in technologies that are 50 years old," the former House speaker told the crowd at a "space round table" he hosted at a Holiday Inn.

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Responding to rival Mitt Romney's criticism of his proposal for a lunar settlement, Gingrich said, "When we have 13,000 Americans living on the moon, they can petition to become a state. And here's the difference between romantics and so-called practical people. I wanted every young American to say to themselves, 'I could be one of those 13,000. I could be a pioneer. I need to study science and math and engineering. I need to learn how to be a technician. I can be a part of building a bigger, better future.'"

Gingrich said he has had a "deep passion" for space travel since he was boy and read Missiles and Rockets. He said he also was fascinated by the Sputnik, the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth.

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Newt Gingrich on the campaign trail

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Sarah Huisenga
Sarah Huisenga is covering the Mitt Romney campaign for CBS News and National Journal.
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by zenia5 January 27, 2012 8:23 PM EST: Message to Newt.....Today the Moon, tomorrow Uranus ...since that's where your head is.; Reply to this comment

by mgdvt January 26, 2012 2:05 PM EST

Lunatic - is a commonly used term for a person who is mentally ill, dangerous, foolish, unpredictable; a condition once called lunacy.

Reply to this comment


by zenia5 January 26, 2012 7:08 PM EST: Lunatic, egomaniacal, delusional....look up any of these and you will see Newt's picture. He is the poster child for Narcissistic Personality Disorder. What an idiot.


by zenia5 January 26, 2012 10:54 AM EST: Here's a clue Newt.....you need to tell us what you are going to do to make our lives better on planet earth rather than "playing" to the political base in Florida by spinning such promises. Gingrich needs a one-way ticket to the moon.; Reply to this comment


by wtw9 January 26, 2012 10:53 AM EST: The us freedom party, world council and numerous others have pushed for space economies to take a leading part in the future of your nation, even offering public states as a funding method to lesson and possibly even exclude costs to taxpayers. Of course, with a population that wants to just gripe, majority doesn't vote and are as apathetic as all get out, it is no mystery as to why no one stands up to the plate for advancing your people and your nation. To say you cannot afford it is to say you cannot afford your future, and, as stated, the public states funding method removes that burden for the most part and gives all citizens an actual ownership in the industries created by such....; Reply to this comment


by stevex47 January 26, 2012 10:24 AM EST: This proves he doesn't even WANT to be President.

He's just a money laundering scheme for casino's.; Reply to this comment


by occupy_cbs January 26, 2012 10:21 AM EST: "Appealing to residents of the state's economically struggling 'Space Coast,' Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich promised to have a permanent U.S. base on the moon by the end of his second term as president."

Yes, as a typical professional politician and Washington insider, the slimy salamander is literally promising them "the moon," when in reality this is not going to happen since we cannot afford it!; Reply to this comment


by 2happy2ride January 26, 2012 10:17 AM EST: A typical political INSIDER, spending MORE while in a recession, deep in debt.

Politicians are out of touch. Only a businessman can bring rational and a solution to our troubled economy.

Go MITT.; Reply to this comment


by Lawyers-Guns-n-Money06 January 26, 2012 10:17 AM EST: Blue Moon
We saw Newt standing alone; Reply to this comment


by Zann-Zel January 26, 2012 10:15 AM EST: Comedians everywhere are sending Newt thank you notes! : ); Reply to this comment


by Lawyers-Guns-n-Money06 January 26, 2012 10:13 AM EST: So I stood with a knot in my stomach,
And I gazed at that terrible sight
Of two youngsters concealed in a barrel,
Sucking monkberry moon delight.

Monkberry moon delight,
Monkberry moon delight; Reply to this comment