Re: Let's please not do another "We have to beat (insert name of communist nation) to the moon!"
That means developing a base on the moon, and not just going there ...
Actually, No.
I'm not a fan of the High Frontier concept, but this version -- http://www.thespacereview.com/article/3568/1 -- just might be doable. For a few trillion dollars. Which almost certainly will **NOT** show up when requested. A more or less self sustaining lunar base would surely cost even more.
Supporters of lunar/martian bases tend to wave their hands and change the subject when the question of cost comes up.
If you really want the human race to be able to survive a cosmic disaster (why?) -- dig one or more large self sustaining hole(s) under the Pacific, or the Sahara, or the Australian Outback, or Kansas; equip it/them with fission reactors, staff it/them with a few thousand volunteers and you're done except for dealing with unanticipated engineering problems. Which will likely be numerous. And expensive.
That'll handle most eventualities, might have reasonable costs and be actually doable.
Space bases? Sure. Why not? Once the economics become reasonable. Which might happen somewhere between 60 and 260 years in the future.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
