Congratulations to the Artemis II crew – but the case for sending astronauts into space is rapidly shrinking | Martin Rees and Donald Goldsmith (opens in new tab)

Soon, thanks to the advance of robots, the only reason left to send humans to the moon will be as an ultra-expensive sportMartin Rees is the astronomer royal and a former president of the Royal Society; Donald Goldsmith is an astrophysicist and science communicatorThe 2020s has seen a revival of the “Apollo spirit”. The US and China are seemingly in a race to send humans to the moon by the end of the decade – and thereafter, perhaps, even to Mars. Nasa astronauts have just returned from a 10-...