The Moon is rich in Helium 3, which is useful in nuclear applications. It's also a good place to coordinate missions to other destinations in the solar system,

The Moon is rich in Helium 3, which is useful in nuclear applications. It's also a good place to coordinate missions to other destinations in the solar system, as the escape velocity is significantly less than that of Earth's, and there's no atmosphere to get in the way - an ideal place to launch from. There are also interesting astronomical benefits to studying the cosmos from the far side of the Moon - no radio interference from Earth to get in the way. It's also a nice place to test new ideas like space elevators from, since a space elevator on the Moon could be built with today's technology. This would play exceedingly well with the idea of using the Moon as a starting point for future missions, since you could get pretty much anywhere in the solar system on a very cheap fuel budget if you launched from a Moon-based space elevator.