The Morning Briefing: Fly Me to the Moon — Elon Musk Says, 'YES!'

Top O' the Briefing

Happy Tuesday, dear Kruiser Morning Briefing friends. (It's the final two weeks of preparation for the whirlwind book tour, and the Sine Qua Non Sequitur is spending time rehearsing with an a capella Motörhead cover band.)

We were blessed with another news cycle where we didn't hear too much from The Land of 10,000 Lakes. These are truly magical times we're enjoying right now. There was a lot of chatter about the Super Bowl halftime show, however. I won't be commenting on that because, as I wrote last week in this column, I am opposed to the very idea of what the Super Bowl halftime show has become. They could resurrect Elvis and every Playboy Playmate of the Month from my high school years — all in their primes — to dance on stage with him, and I wouldn't watch. 

At least not until it got posted on YouTube after the game, anyway. 

It's always fun when news from outside the political "Harumph!" sphere catches my eye. On Monday, my good friend and partner in thought crime, Stephen Green, wrote about Elon Musk's rearrangement of his spacefaring priorities. The world's richest man is now focusing on building "a self-growing city on the Moon," rather than a colony on Mars. Both are lofty, Muskian goals, but the timeline for achieving the former is a lot shorter. This is from Stephen's column:

Direct-transfer windows to Luna — with flight times of just three to five days — open roughly twice per month. The Hohmann window to Mars opens about every 26 months, with a flight time of up to nine months. Another technology SpaceX has yet to fully iterate is crew protection from radiation during such a long flight.

A few years ago, I read an investigative popular science book titled A City on Mars: Can we settle space, should we settle space, and have we really thought this through? It's a fun and informative look at the myriad problems involved with space colonization. The focus is on what a truly awful place space is. Getting some gastropubs and microbreweries on the Moon won't be easy, but the awfulness factor is all-around less daunting than it would be with Mars. 

Those of us who grew up with The Jetsons and thought we would all have sweet ride hover cars by now have often wondered why a lot more Moon stuff didn't happen after we, you know, went to the Moon six times in three-and-a-half years. I don't have a science background, but I do have years of experience studying, dealing with, and writing about the federal bureaucracy in the United States. Let's just say that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) doesn't always shine.

To the lay space exploration enthusiasts like me, a lot of what NASA did after the Apollo 17 mission felt like backward steps. The sclerotic NASA bureaucratic structure was responsible for both the Challenger and Columbia space shuttle disasters. NASA's recent focus on getting a manned mission back to the moon, almost 60 years after that was first accomplished, has a sort of Groundhog Day feel to it. 

SpaceX isn't completely free of federal rules and regulations, and it uses NASA's launch facilities. The company isn't, however, bogged down by the kind of bureaucratic sludge that NASA is. On top of that, Elon Musk is also a visionary, and visionaries are always essential to the exploration of new frontiers. I don't doubt that SpaceX will one day get to and set up camp on the Red Planet — most likely before anyone else does. That is a real long-term goal, and I might miss out on that even if I live a very long time. I'd kinda like to see that brewery on Luna, though, and I think Musk could do it relatively quickly. Relative to what the government can pull off, that is. 

Maybe he can get Tesla working hover cars while he's at it. The Jetsons generation is overdue.

Contributions to the Mailbag of Magnificence can be sent to [email protected]

Click the button to get the Morning Briefing emailed to you every weekday. Have your coffee with me, people. It's free, and it supports conservative media!  Subscribe

Everything Isn't Awful

Mistakes were made.. 😂 pic.twitter.com/cxVWOjwwrr

— Buitengebieden (@buitengebieden) February 9, 2026

PJ Media

VodkaPundit. Musk Shifts Gears: Moon Megacity Beats Mars Colony in the Race Against Time

Judge Stops California From Un-Masking ICE Agents Amid Increased Dem Violence

LET ME COUNT THE WAYS. Reasons to Distrust the IRS

Did You Catch All the MK-Ultra Moments at the Super Bowl?

If You're Going to Leave Cuba Now, You Better Have a Boat

Trump White House Touts Wins as Dems Gripe and Moan

Comedy Civil War: Bill Maher Says He and Jimmy Kimmel May Never Reconcile

Chicago Mayor Confesses to 30 Percent Drop in Homicides After Trump Crackdown

Looks Like Venezuela’s Due for Another Trump Phone Call — ASAP

Commie China Condemns Pro-Democracy Jimmy Lai to Jail

👉TPUSA Halftime Show Ruled a Fumble

What's It Like to Live As a Christian in the Islamic Republic of Iran?

Japan’s Iron Lady Took a Risk — and Won Big

Just Looking: Obama, Trudeau, Carney

Don Lemon and the Cult of Self-Importance

When AI Gets Too Personal

A Japanese Lesson for Troubled Britain

YAHTZEE! Milan Olympics: Honor the Country or Hand Back the Gear

News Outlets Report on the 'Terror' of ICE Agents, but Why Isn’t Anyone Reporting Their Actual Progress?

Patriotism on Trial: JD Vance vs. Michelle Obama

Townhall Mothership

Schlichter. Men Are Going to Strike Back

How This Small-Town Police Force Became a 'Criminal Organization'

We Didn't Think Progressives Could Make LA Any Worse, but They Can

'Brass-Knuckled Hypocrisy:' Even the Washington Post Is Slamming Virginia Democrats' Redistricting Scheme

Oh. Latest Liberal Laugher: Trump's 'Abolished the Second Amendment'

Cam&Co. California Next in Line for 'Permit-to-Purchase' Law?

Oregon Dems Eye Two-Year Delay for Start of 'Permit to Purchase' Law

Shucks. ICE is Still Operating in Minneapolis and Local Activists Aren't Happy

Karen Bass Faces Last Minute Challenge from Former Supporter

Story of Little Scottish Girl Who Took a Whack for Wielding an Axe Now Jumps Its Track

Hey, if Europeans have to speak it...Safer Streets Ahead: Florida Now Mandates English for License Tests

9th Circuit Hands Trump Administration a Big Win With TPS Ruling

On National Law Enforcement Day, Let's Reward Competence and Make It Great Again Across the System

DHS Obliterates the Latest Propaganda Effort About 'Non-Violent' Illegals ICE Has Arrested

Andy Beshear: His Faith Led Him to Veto ‘The Nastiest Piece of Anti-LGBTQ Legislation' in His State

Democrat PAC Puts Out Anti-ICE Ad Featuring EVIL Generic Republican Congressman

VIP

Good Bye, Horses: Creepy Twists in the Guthrie Case

Dostoevsky v. Dems: Understanding How Lies Lead to Perversion

Remembering the Monster: Why Stephen King Is Wrong About Forgetting — and Why Healing Demands Memory

Guadalcanal’s Grit: Outnumbered Marines Turn the Tide

Sweden and Spain Move in Opposite Directions on Immigration Policy

Adventures in the Patriarchy™: Anti-ICE Karens Gone Wild! Part XXVIII

What’s the Real Reason Dems Now Have a Problem With ICE Agents Having Body Cams?

The Snark Side of the Moon

Is Jasmine’s Campaign a Crock?

Around the Interwebz

Google AI Tools Start Blocking Disney-Related Prompts After Mouse House’s Legal Threat

Wonder Man nods to the MCU without feeling like homework

What We Know—And Don't—About Shakespeare's Wife

The Kruiser Kabana

Kabana Gallery

Garden with Villa and Fountain #artbots #vanrysselberghe pic.twitter.com/qcX2BEENOV

— Théo Rysselberghe (@artrysselberghe) February 9, 2026

Kabana Comedy/Tunes

POTUS Press Today

Become part of the PJ Media VIP party by subscribing here. Use promo code KRUISERMB to receive a WHOPPING 60% discount. Trust me, we’re having fun over here.