Columbus Was a Dope

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"Columbus Was a Dope" is a science fiction short story by Robert A. Heinlein. It was first published in the May 1947 issue of Startling Stories. It later appeared in two of Heinlein's collections, The Menace from Earth (1959), and Expanded Universe (1980).

In the story, bar patrons and a bartender debate building a starship. One favors outer space exploration as an obvious analogy of Columbus's voyages, the other insists that Columbus was a dope and should have stayed home. The punch line is that the debate takes place on the moon.