Astronauts call for manned mars landing

Three of the 12 American astronauts who flew to the Moon in the space programs that began 30 years ago have called for a commitment to a mannedmission to Mars. The astronauts - Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Gene Cernan - made their appeal during a news conference at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the launch of Apollo 11, which took the first men to the Moon.

Neil Armstrong, who made the first historic Moon-walk, said the Apollo missions had demonstrated that "humanity was not forever chained to this planet", and that opportunity was unlimited.

He and his fellow Apollo 11 astronaut, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, said they would like to see man reach Mars within 20 years.


"To put together the effort that it takes to get there once, twice, three times, and then turn our backs on it would be very sad for me and I would not like to see that happen," said Aldrin.

"We could do it in 2020 if we committed to it today, added Armstrong.

i thought it was good to hear an astronaut express his desire to reach mars. the chances are alot greater for it to happen i think if we can convice more guys like armstrong that its possible.

TBH we should have been on mars a long time ago, the (very) long term future of the human race depends on us going out there and colonating other systems and galaxies and yet we have wasted the last 40 or more years. Projects like the ISS space station are all well and good but in my opinion they should have built a moon base instead and used this not only as a trial run for when they have to start terraforming other planets but also as a stepping stone for any mars landing.

Well if the US dont do it Russia or China will, I actually have be bets that China will atempt a maned Mars mission they have the resources and money to do so.

Possibly another space race on the horizon? If so it will be good days for Earth because it means more money spent on research and less of fighting each other.

When went from almost zero space technology to landing on the moon in roughly 10 years. If we put our minds to it we ought to be able reach Mars even faster now. Sometimes I wonder how far along NASA would be if they had a budget that wasn't so small compared to what is spent on defense. (not that I advocate spending less, mind you)

We went from almost zero space technology to landing on the moon in roughly 10 years.

....and then we went back to zero again for the next 35.

Seriously, where has the Space Shuttle taken the manned space programme ? We have a nice telescope in orbit, a $100 billion half completed space station, and 14 dead astronauts.

Also eben the space shuttel is not the best that could have been used. there was another design which was safer, didn;t require the use of external tanks or boosters and even looked better IMHO.
yet this was bombed because the space shuttel we all know was cheaper.
stupid choice realy. also the ISS is somewhat a waste of time as we will, or should, be reaching ferther into the solar system hopefully with another manned trip to the moon soon. so i wish nasa would hurry up and sort their priorities up quick smart.