There have been a lot of talks about humans colonising Mars and making it a second earth. Companies like Space X with visionaries like Elon Musk at the top have been preparing for putting a man on mars as well. Now , Anders, lunar module pilot of Apollo 8, the first human spaceflight to leave Earth’s orbit, said sending crews to Mars was “almost ridiculous”.
Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live, Anders, 85, said he was a “big supporter” of the agency’s “remarkable” unmanned missions, “mainly because they’re much cheaper”.
However, he argued that public support simply wasn’t there for vastly more expensive crewed ventures.
“What’s the imperative? What’s pushing us to go to Mars?” he said, adding “I don’t think the public is that interested”.
Bill Anders, 85, was the lunar module pilot for the country’s December 1968 Apollo 8 mission, which completed 10 orbits around the Moon before returning to Earth.
It was the furthest humans had travelled from Earth at that point, and was crucial in paving the way for the famous Apollo 11 moon landing just seven months later
However, the former astronaut was scathing about how Nasa has evolved since the heady days of President John F Kennedy’s pledge to land a man on the Moon by the end of the 1960s, the BBC report said.
“Nasa couldn’t get to the Moon today. They’re so ossified… Nasa has turned into a jobs programme… many of the centres are mainly interested in keeping busy and you don’t see the public support other than they get the workers their pay and their congressmen get re-elected,” Anders said.
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