 Why did Si choose to visit Manhattan and the Kudos Room?
They also had a banquet for him, complete with speeches by such bigwigs of the Department of Space Exploration as Academician Lofting Gubelin and Doctor Hans Girard-Perregaux. It was better to retire on a limited crediting, on a confoundedly limited crediting, than to take the two or three more trips in hopes of attaining a higher standard. Time to decide that a one room mini-auto-apartment, complete with an autochair and built-in autobar, and with one wall a teevee screen, was all he needed to find contentment for a mighty long time. Even as Si listened to their speeches, accepted the watch and made a halting little talk of his own, he was grinning inwardly. His explanation was that a phobia against having his eyes touched prohibited either surgery to remould his eyeballs and cure his myopia, or contact lenses. Girard-Perregaux grunted his sarcasm and dialed a glass of iced tea and tequila. He said, "Nevertheless, both you and I conform with the present generation in finding it far more pleasant to follow one's way of life in the comfort of one's home than to be confronted with the unpleasantness of facing nature's dangers in more adventurous pastimes." He was drafted into the working force reserves, served his time, and is now free from toil for the balance of his life. "Unfortunately, our present-day sailor can't be separated from his money quite so easily.
 To celebrate his retirement and spend some of his extra funds.
 In hopes of seeing and befriending a celebrity  That's the only place that an alcoholic beverage can be legally purchased.  He was planning to meet an attractive woman there.  To celebrate his retirement and spend some of his extra funds.