Docudrama, Shmockudrama!
Neil Armstrong stepped onto the Moon 109 hours and 42 minutes after launch “according to sources”.
Mars Curiosity took about 60 times that long to get to Mars. That’s “two orders of magnitude” in the parlance, and it’s uncharted territory, short of just doing it. Well, they have kept people in LEO on the space station for that time, but they aren’t really worth much after that. Well, that’s in earth gravity. OK, but still ...
I would hope to see “manned space exploration again in my lifetime” on the moon. Build a base. Something. Whatever you could cook up would make more sense than trying to go to Mars.
To amplify, look at all those images from Curiosity. Detail upon detail, for several years now. Plus drilling and sampling. What are you going to get beyond that with human presence? At 100? 1000? times the cost. Makes no sense.
... and I would ask you, are you familiar with the Curiosity image gallery? Do you care enough to look? Just asking.
“.. and I would ask you, are you familiar with the Curiosity image gallery? Do you care enough to look? Just asking.”
No need to be snippy.
Curiousity’s journey and the data coming back to us is fantastic. If dreamers like the gang at SpaceX accomplish thier goals, we can still hope to become space pioneers, exploring uncharted territory. It is the ultimate adventure.
Why can’t there be projects like Curiosity and as well as the dream to go to Mars or elsewhere?