It doesn't look like America will be going back to the moon any time soon, but that doesn't mean China won't! So for the future lucky taikonauts who will return, where should they land next?
I have long recommended going first to the caves, to free any future colonists from solar radiation and cosmic rays, first, and second to wherever the water is (and if there is, there won't be much of it). The consensus seems to be going to the polar regions.
In fact there are a lot of opinions, both pro and con, in the wonderful replies at this forum thread and poll at SPACE.com.
The usual arguments for going to Mars first (no) can usually refuted by the following little facts:
1) Mars is 40,000,000 miles away.
2) The Moon is 210,000 miles away.
Both are inhospitable before the application of human ingenuity, but guess which one will cost less?
I close with a picture of the little-seen far side of the Moon:
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