Gingrich vows to establish a moon colony

COCOA – Newt Gingrich is promising to establish apermanent base on the moon by 2020 if he’s elected president.

Gingrich, the former House speaker, told an overflow crowd gathered on Florida’s space coast Wednesday that he wants todevelop a robust commercialspace industry in line with the airline boom of the 1930s. He also wants to expand exploration of Mars.

The pronouncements appeared to thrill the crowd of roughly 700 people. Florida’s space coast is still suffering from a recent round of federal cuts to the space program.

The Republican presidential contender says to fund the product, he wants to offer prizes to help stimulate investment by the private sector.