"All the Chinese have to do is fly around the Moon and back, and they'll appear to have won the return to the Moon with humans," moonwalker Buzz Aldrin tells us. The Cold War is over, Buzz, and the symbolic propaganda victories--like winning more medals at the Olympics or putting a man on the moon--are over with it. Nobody remembers who flew across the Atlantic after Charles Lindbergh did it, and nobody, save for a space wonk, has any interest in who gets to the moon forty years after Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins got there first. We know it's not made of cheese, and that's what is important. "Retain the vision for space exploration," Aldrin counsels. "If we turn our backs on the vision again, we're going to have to live in a secondary position in human space flight for the rest of the century." So what?

I think that lots of people will care, actually.

Nevertheless, I agree with your conclusion: So what?!

From what I understand the Moon is still important as a launch base for deep space exploration. The next-to-nothing garvity is a HUGE consideration for launching.