We don’t need the cumbersome and tiresome government to do this. Private companies have the right stuff to send people to Mars. But private companies are not private because they like being private, like doing things on their own, love their boundless, governmentless freedoms. They exist to make a profit. So, how will sending people to Mars make money? Notice how the word “spectacle” is repeated

The catch? What makes this plan a touch curious? What goes to Mars, stays on Mars. It’s a one-way ticket.

Charles Mudede—who writes about film, books, music, and his life in Rhodesia, Zimbabwe, the USA, and the UK for The Stranger—was born near a steel plant in Kwe Kwe, Zimbabwe. He has no memory...