By Chuck Woodbury
ROADSIDE JOURNAL
When I finally depart my earthly existence I will have one major regret: that I did not get to travel to the Moon or Mars. I want to go so badly I can hardly stand it.
That said, I feel very fortunate to have lived in a time when I’ve been able to view spectacular high definition photographs from outer space, including hundreds of images from Mars.
And, really, there are some places I have visited on Planet Earth that look nearly identical to those photos from Mars — Death Valley here in the states and in one particular area of Iceland, where I visited a few years ago.
But now, along comes Elon Musk with his latest rocket, one that I think should be called a Rocketship because it looks almost identical to those of my childhood heroes Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon. Musk’s ship looks right out of one of those classic TV shows and movies. It’s cool beyond words!
Musk says the first launch could come as soon as next month on a suborbital mission. The vessel for outer space would be more substantial, and could transport a crew to the Moon in 2023 and to Mars a year later.
Picture a baby crying: “I WANT TO GO!”
Here’s a question for you: Would you go to Mars if invited? Assume you’d blast off in 2024 and probably never return.
Heck I bearly get off the couch. Lol.
I’ve seen Mars on TV. No need to go there. Kinda like L.A. I’ve seen it in countless TV shows. No need to go there either . . . .
I said probably because I love adventures. I’ll be 75 then and have seen quite a bit already here on Mother Earth. But then, I really like Tommy’s response, too. 😉 I’m not real fond of desert terrain.
In a heartbeat!
From 1966 thru 1969 I was one of the 140,000 scientists, engineers and technicians who worked on the Apollo Program and put Man on the Moon. They did not ask we then if I wanted to go to the Moon, which I would have said yes. Now, asked if I would go to Mars, of course I would.
What a missed editorial opportunity… this article could have discussed why Musk used stainless steel (SO wrong in spacecraft usually, but brilliant here), or why it seemingly has fins (which are NOT actually aerodynamic control surfaces here)… the interesting story isn’t that it looks like 50s SciFi, but why that appearance was so improbable.