US Election 2012: Newt Gingrich promises American colony on the Moon

Newt Gingrich briefly set aside earthly concerns like debt and deficit to promise the American people that if they elected him president he would establish a permanent colony on the Moon.

In a speech near Nasa's Kennedy Space Centre, the Republican hopeful and space-travel enthusiast pledged that by 2020 American families would be living and working on the lunar surface.apply to become the fifty-first state of the union.Mr Gingrich, whose interest in space is matched only by his fascination with zoos, said that exploration of the universe would inspire the country's young to feel “part of a generation of courageous people who do something big and bold and heroic.”