I first drafted this in 1998 as during the lead up to the 1999 30th anniversary of Apollo. It is in the back of the book Return to the Moon of essays and papers I edited in 2004 to inform then President Bush’s plan to take us back to the Moon. It still fits today, as we begin yet another new push to return. Perhaps this time we will actually make it.

The Lunar Declaration

Recognizing it is the dawn of a new millennium, and the human spirit cries out for new beginnings;

Recognizing the need for new challenges to the human spirit, new domains for the exploration of human freedoms and the rapidly growing pressures on our biosphere and natural systems;

Recognizing humanity has developed the ability to routinely access and utilize the space near Earth and maintain human habitation in the space environment;

We the citizens of Earth, do hereby declare that it is the duty and responsibility of our species to expand our civilization and the biosphere of our home world outwards into space.

We further declare that it is our duty to assure that this movement is safe, supportable, sustainable, and unstoppable.

{First explored by human beings several decades ago and given its proximity to our home world, its location on the edge of the Near and Far Frontiers of human exploration, its bountiful resources, its ability to serve as a platform for further exploration and as a nearby location for our first human habitats on another planet, we believe the Moon represents the next and most vital step for humanity as we expand beyond Earth orbit.

Be it as a training base for future human explorers of Mars and other worlds, a supplier of resources for the development and benefit of humanity on and beyond the Earth, a home to observatories that will probe the cosmos, a location for commercial enterprises, or simply as land to be settled by individuals who are willing to stake their lives and fortunes to open its bounties; the Moon represents a new opportunity for an unprecedented partnership between the public and private sectors that will result in savings to taxpayers, profits to those willing to take the financial risks, and hope for all.}

We believe there is an appropriate role for all in this endeavour, with private industry providing services and supporting operations and the government providing a regulatory environment and acting as a good customer as it fulfills its legitimate needs to develop the technologies and systems necessary to explore the far frontier

Therefore, we call on the people of Earth and its governments, industries and institutions, each acting in their interests and playing their own roles, to join together in a renewed and united effort to seek these synergies, mold a new unified approach to opening the frontier, and create the financial, legal and policy incentives that will catalyze this effort.

To summarize:

We the undersigned, citizens of Earth, do hereby declare it is time to Return to the Moon.

This time to stay.