A crewed Mars mission could happen sooner than you think.
The president and COO of the company said that astronauts will likely make it to the Red Planet before the end of the 2020s.
I think it will be in this decade. Shotwell said in the brief interview, which you can watch here, that people on the moon sooner.
I think we need to get a large delivery to the surface of Mars, and then people will start thinking harder about it.
How living on Mars could be a challenge.
This ambitious vision will be made a reality by SpaceX. The company is working on a huge rocket-spaceship combo that will take people to the moon, Mars and beyond.
There are several moon missions on the docket. Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa booked a vehicle for a round-the-moon trip with a target launch date of 2023. The first crewed lunar landers will be built by NASA and will be placed near the south pole of the moon.
Shotwell sees boots first crunching into the red dirt, but NASA sees Artemis as a moon-to-Mars program and intends to launch a crewed Red Planet mission in 2040 or thereabouts.
The company wants to launch its first-ever orbital test flight from its South Texas facility, called Starbase, in the near future. That launch can't happen until the FAA finishes an environmental assessment of the activities at Starbase.
The review was supposed to be done by the end of 2021, but the FAA has pushed it back several times.
Shotwell's interview with Smith was part of a program that will air this weekend on television and streaming networks. You can learn more aboutInspiring America and how to watch it here.
Mike Wall is the author of Out There, a book about the search for alien life. You can follow him on social media. Follow us on social media.
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