Two Apollo 11 astronauts called for a manned Mars mission on Sunday, the eve of the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing, while astronaut Neil Armstrong looked back at the steps that paved the way for the Apollo programme.
NASA currently aims to return astronauts to the moon by 2020, with the eventual goal of sending astronauts to Mars, in line with a vision for the agency announced by President George W. Bush in 2004. But these plans may change, pending the outcome of a review of human spaceflight plans that is due to be completed at the end of August.
Speaking at a celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, two mission astronauts advocated increased focus on Mars. 鈥淪ometimes I think I flew to the wrong place,鈥� said Michael Collins, who orbited the moon in the Apollo 11 command module during the historic landing.
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鈥淎s celestial bodies go, the moon is not a particularly interesting place, but Mars is, and Mars is the closest thing to Earth鈥檚 sister that we鈥檝e found so far,鈥� Collins said on Sunday at an anniversary event hosted by the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC.
鈥楤riar patch鈥�
Focusing on a lunar return could imperil plans to reach more interesting destinations, Collins added. 鈥淚 worry that the current emphasis of returning to the moon will cause us to become ensnared in a technological briar patch, needlessly delaying for decades the exploration of Mars, a much more worthwhile destination,鈥� Collins said.
Astronaut Buzz Aldrin, the second man to set foot on the moon, called for a new space vision that would take astronauts to Mars by 2035. He said NASA could reach that goal by first going to the moon, then to near-Earth objects like the potential Earth-collider Apophis, and then on to Mars鈥檚 moon Phobos before landing on the Martian surface.
鈥淲e can reach these destinations on the pathway to Mars within the next two decades,鈥� Aldrin said, adding that his plan would put astronauts in line to land on Mars some 66 years after the first humans set foot on the moon鈥檚 Tranquility Base, an event that occurred 66 years after the Wright brothers鈥� first powered flight.
Stepping stone
The US needs to be unified and focused on achieving stepping stones on the way to its goal, Aldrin said, noting that Russia, China, and France are poised to launch a mission to return samples from Phobos (see Russia planning double assault on Mars).
The moon should be a setting for international cooperation, Aldrin said. 鈥淚 think we deserve to do a little bit more than footprints on the moon,鈥� Aldrin said. 鈥淭his time instead of a moon race we can help make the moon a true stepping stone to more exciting and habitable destinations. With the moon acting as a new global commons for all nations, we can venture out to Mars for America鈥檚 future.鈥�
If NASA does send people to Mars, he said it should not be for short stays. 鈥淚f we think we鈥檙e going to send them there for a year and a half and bring them back, and then send another group there for a year and a half and bring them back, I鈥檒l tell you what Washington will do. They鈥檒l find another way to spend that money, unless we have declared that our objective is an increasing permanence 鈥� a settlement.鈥�
In a rare public appearance, Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong spoke of the ingredients that helped fuel the fervour of the space race.
He noted that the engineering innovations of Robert Goddard, the inventor of liquid-fuelled rockets, helped spawn powerful military rockets like the German V-2. The Cold War helped spur the development of even higher performance rockets.
Space race 鈥榓 diversion鈥�
The scientific community also helped push the space race forward. Even before the International Geophysical Year (IGY), which began in mid-1957 to allow researchers from around the world to cooperate in observations of geophysical phenomena, scientists noted that the powerful new military rockets might be used to launch Earth-observing satellites.
When both the Soviet Union and the US announced that they were aiming to launch artificial satellites, the 鈥渇irst heat of the space race鈥� began, Armstrong said.
鈥淲ould humans have explored the moon without the work of Robert Goddard, the existence of the Cold War or the IGY? Perhaps, but certainly not on the schedule it actually occurred,鈥� Armstrong said.
Ultimately, the space race was a positive development, Armstrong said. 鈥淚鈥檒l not assert that it was a diversion which prevented a war 鈥� nonetheless it was a diversion. It did allow both sides to take the high road with the objectives of science and learning and exploration,鈥� Armstrong said. 鈥淚t provided a mechanism for engendering cooperation between former adversaries. In that sense, among others, it was an exceptional national investment for both sides.鈥�
Hard lessons
The 1967 Apollo 1 fire, which killed astronauts Virgil 鈥淕us鈥� Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chafee, was another necessary ingredient on the path to the moon, Apollo mission planner Christopher Kraft said. Before the accident, the Apollo command module was not in good shape.
鈥淔rankly [the engineers] built a damn lousy spacecraft. They were running like the devil to get it done. They didn鈥檛 have time to listen to lessons learned,鈥� Kraft said. 鈥淎lthough the death of those three men was a terrible thing in our memory, without the fire, I guarantee you we would still be trying to get to the moon, because that was not going to happen with the hardware we had.鈥�
Kraft also noted that very little was known about the moon when President John F. Kennedy announced the charge in 1961 to send a man to the moon by the end of the decade. 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 know anything about spaceflight at that time. We had still not put Mr. Glenn into orbit at that time. We didn鈥檛 know how to do orbit determination with the radar data we had.鈥�
He said many of the moon鈥檚 properties were unknown at the time: 鈥淢any scientists in this country thought you would sink into six feet of dust, many thought it would catch on fire due to the flame that came from the devices.鈥�
