When people would hear me talking about Mars and the settlement thereof, they would respond with questions about why we would even think about going to Mars--what with all of the problems in the World. Wouldn't our money be better spent elsewhere? Well, in just a couple of years no one was asking that question anymore. As the U.S. govt began to turn its back on Space Exploration (especially Human Exploration), people began to ask me if I thought it would happen and when !
(The Mars Society logo)
I remember in 1969 (yes, I remember the 60's) that I was interested in Woodstock, but not too much. I was still ecstatic over the Moon Landing the month before ! The Apollo program sent many astronauts to the Moon and it looked like we were going to begin exploring and settling the Solar System ! Of course, with NASA holding all of the cards it was hard to imagine an average citizen being able to get involved with the Space program. But the dream of humans going into Space was exciting. Star Trek fueled that dream, as well as Star Wars and many other TV series and movies. Yet, something happened. Who knows what? Our govt decided to head in many different directions other than human exploration. I guess the tragedies of the shuttle mishaps influenced that decision. The Space Program had grown so fast and gotten so big that corners were being cut and the necessary precautions for the safety of the crews were not being met. And, the military decided that the high ground of Space should belong to them, I guess.
The Mars Society had a contest one year. It was to write a short story that addressed the question, Why Should We Go to Mars? I entered a micro story. I felt that a short story should be just that. I think it was only 3/4 of a page in length! Dr. Zubrin, one of the founders of the Mars Society and the current Fearless Leader, always talks about how NASA and the government are selling rope--not missions. He always stressed that a mission to Mars could be done a lot cheaper than what government estimates were. In other words, if NASA said a mission to Mars would be 800 billion dollars, Zubrin felt that it could be done for 70 billion. I agree. So, with that in mind, I wrote a "micro" short story.
It was about a father and his daughter that were walking on the top of Olympus Mons (on Mars) and the daughter asks him the question, "Daddy, why is the sky Orange?" And, the man thinks to himself, as he looks at the sky, "I bet there is a father on Earth that is getting this same question..."
I watched the launch of the Falcon 9 Tuesday night. Elon Musk started the company SpaceX that built and launched the Falcon9 with 100 million of his own money. His stated purpose in starting his own rocket company is to send humans to Mars. I have seen him at the Mars Society Conventions and it is always exciting to see someone with that strength of conviction and zest for exploration.
(This is a screenshot of the Live stream of the Falcon9 launch.)
I have been telling people for the last 3 or 4 years that the first humans will get to Mars because of private enterprise. And, that looks to be the case. I also feel that when the first human sets foot on Mars, that every member of the Mars Society can feel proud that they carried the torch to help make this happen. When I go to their conventions I am always amazed to see the progress being made to get humans to Mars and beyond! There are people from all walks of life. People all working to realize the dream of settling another Planet.
I started this blog to talk about my interest in Mars and to report on people and events that are going on around the world to settle new civilizations(Out There!). And, then I was informed that I had Stage IV cancer and I changed the blog to let people know what a person goes through when they have to endure the roller-coaster experience of Chemo-therapy.
I thought, at first, that my life might be considerably shorter than I had thought it would be. I had to put my Clowning and Mars activities on hold. I used to joke that I always wanted to be the Clown spokesperson for NASA. I even have an autographed picture from an astrounaut that I met (to Careful the Clown) and when I told her of my desire to be the spokesClown, I don't think she thought I was serious !
But, when I am engaged in The Mars Society activities, I twist Alien balloons and try to educate people about Mars while I am clowning around! So, I am fulfilling a part of that dream!
And, I am fighting this booger of a cancer because I really want to be wearing my Red Nose when I step out onto the surface of the Planet Mars !!!
Life is Good...Life is an Adventure !
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