This after-dinner address attempts to point up in a simplified way the amusing, as well as some of the more serious, problems which arise in connection with flight into space. Figures are given to challenge some of the more fanciful claims about the value of the moon as a military base, noting the very large amounts of fuel required to take weapons up to the moon and then to return them to the earth. Some of the important research problems in physics and astronomy which can be carried out by the use of space vehicles are enumerated. As examples of a space science enterprise, the results of the magnetic field measurements by the Pioneer V package are summarized. The impractibility of using the moon and other planets as colonies for the earth's excess population is also demonstrated.