I happen to be Portuguese (land of pioneer seafarer) so had a chance to live with these legends in popular stories. There were other empires with better ship te

I happen to be Portuguese (land of pioneer seafarer) so had a chance to live with these legends in popular stories. There were other empires with better ship technology and huge fleets in place (e.g. China) and back in Europe one could find countries with better economical conditions to pioneer into the unknown seas (Genovese, Castillians, French, ..). Yet, it was a tiny land on that corner of Europe which did the initial jump into the unknown. Not just jumping, they crossed the whole of Africa using tiny boats and bargaining food at each stop. They succeeded because there was no other option. If the Portuguese crown were to make money, it had to risk doing what the others wouldn't. 500 years later. The US rulers don't see yet the money aspect in Mars, not even at the moon. But there is another "crown" already aiming for the moon, the Chinese: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_large_modular_space_station https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_large_modular_space_st... It's going to be interesting. Let's see if a human can finally reach the moon.