Commercial companies will play a bigger role in space missions in the future, said Don Thomas, a retired NASA astronaut.
In an interaction with schoolchildren at the U.S. Consulate in Chennai on Thursday through video- conferencing from Ohio in the U.S, he said the first human mission to Mars, which may take another 20 to 25 years, will likely be a joint programme with commercial enterprises.
“They will play a big role in helping us along the way,” he said.
He highlighted how SpaceX was already collaborating with NASA on space missions and other companies like Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic were also involved in space programmes.
On a question related to space tourism, he said that though he had mixed opinions about taking tourists to the International Space Station, commercial companies may make space tourism a reality to places like space habitats and space hotels designed for tourists.
He said that seeing earth from the space would forever alter a person’s views about the earth. He expressed his wish that the first human mission to Mars will be an international endeavour that represented all of planet earth. He explained how he wanted to be an astronaut ever since he was a six-year-old and how he was rejected by NASA for becoming an astronaut in his first three attempts. “The lesson I learnt was to never give up. Whatever dreams you have, never give up,” he said.
The interaction was organised by the U.S. Consultate, Chennai, in association with Go4Guru India and EducationUSA.
Kathleen Hosie, Information Officer, U.S. Consultate, in her speech, congratulated India for an impressive launch of its second lunar exploration mission, Chandrayaan-2, which she said will make India the first nation to land on the lunar South Pole.
She expressed hope that the findings will inform the U.S.’s Artemis Mission to send a man and the first woman to the moon by 2024.
