Today is the 60th Anniversary of the launch of Sputnik.
It seems the race to space temperament has completely changed today from the US/Russia space race 60 years ago.
Rice University’s Space Institute Director Dr. David Alexander said today, it’s more of a partnership.
“We’ve come a long way and the space station is a great example of how countries across the world can work together for peaceful purposes,” said Alexander.
Americans want to get to Mars, while Russians, Europeans and the Chinese want to go to the Moon.
“You think about the Indians and the Chinese who are now regularly accessing space and there’s talk of a new Asian space race between those two nations,” said Alexander.
NASA hopes to get a human on Mars by the late 2030s with the Orion Capsule. Or, they could use the Moon as a weigh station to get to Mars.
The next unknown question is will it be NASA to do it or will it be a private company?
Elon Musk of Space X could be NASA’s competitor in that Mars race, or even another company.
Alexander added that he just read in the paper that the United Arab Emirates are looking to get human to Mars, too-in the next 10 to 20 years.