Poll: Let's go to Mars. Or Not.

One of the great debate threads about space exploration made me wonder if people who remember the space race are more in favorite of manned space missions in general than people born after the excitement had passed.

So let’s test my hypothisis, shall we?

Question one: Are you old enough to remember seeing the moon landing in 1969? (yes or no suffices if you’d rather not give your age)

Question two: Agree or Disagree- We should be attempting a manned space mission by the end of the decade. (if you chose to elaborate, please remember this is a poll, not a debate with other posters. There are several GD threads for that)

  1. No (1968)
  2. Agree (I’m not American, so won’t pick up the tab :))
  1. No
  2. Disagree
  1. 23yrs old.
  2. Suit me up.

1.) hell no!
2.) disagree. What’s the point?

  1. No. Born 1971.

  2. Yes, we should go to Mars. (I dunno if doing it in six years is possible but I’m in support of the general idea.)

Yes, but I was too young to understand it was the first time we’d done it.

No. Pointless.

  1. No, I was born in 1982.

  2. Yes, we should definitely go.

    1. I was watching Gemini launches in diapers, and at the age of 5 could explain what was happening.
  1. Hell YES!

(ask me sometime why I’m biased)

!. Yes, I remember very the landing well as I was born in 1951. I remember watching it TV and thought things would move towards more manned explorations.

  1. I would agree with a vision to go to the Moon again and why not Mars? Going to need a better propulsion system though.

Yes (1955)

Moon - No, probably not much has changed since last time we went there.

Mars – Yes, but build the infrastructure robotically so that the heat and lights are on when we arrive, obviously still a long way off.

  1. No. Born in 1982. Dad and Mom remember it though.

  2. It’s about damn time. I don’t think by the end of the Decade is possible and I’d perfer they take their time a little bit, but It’s nice to see them working in that direction, developing new spacecraft instead of eternally mucking around with the damn shuttle.

Finish the ISS, Dump the Shuttle and develop something that can actually get to mars.

Though I can imagine a bunch of soldiers killing themselves when Bush annouces we need to “liberate” Mars, who have obviously been shooting down our space probes and failing to respond to our requests to turn over any WMD/Al Queda elements lurking there. :smiley:

  1. The last moon landing was ten years before I was born.

  2. No. Waste of time and money right now, and it’s an excuse to put weapons in space.

  1. Yes.
  2. Agree. That would be so cool.
  1. No
  2. Hell yes!
  1. No (I was in the womb when Armstrong took the first stroll, so I don’t remember the subsequent missions either)

  2. Where do I sign up?

(We should skip the Moon, though, and make a push for Mars. There’s lots to learn by establishing a presence on the Moon, but we need to get the public jazzed up with a symbolic mission right away. Pragmatism can come later. We need romance first.)

  1. Nope. Born 1985
  2. I want to see something come out of the ISS first other than a feel good international effort before NASA goes looking elsewhere. But a hell yeah for missions to Moon/Mars. Having a launch date by the end of this decade is kind of pushing it though. Doesn’t NASA have to cook up completely new spacecraft designs and propulsion system?
  1. No
  2. Yes! But only if scientific missions are not sacrificed.

But can I point out that people of my generation (I was born 1974) still remember the space race of sorts? I saw one of the earliest Shuttle flights and saw one of the full-scale Shuttle models (might have been the Enterprise) as it was paraded around the world. I also watched out for news of the Soviet space program, including the successful launch of the shuttle Buran. Back then it was unthinkable that NASA would ever cooperate with the Russians.

Born 1981, so my earliest space memories are more to do with shuttles than moon-walks. I don’t even really remember Challenger, except from adults’ reactions to it.

Do I think we should go to space? Definitely. As others have said, the close of the decade is probably a little too soon - I’d like to see launches aimed at a permanent Moon base by about 2015, following on to Mars once we’ve got a stable base on the Moon - say 2025-2030.

Born 1971, so no.

Go to Mars, practice on the Moon if you must.

And I’d pay to help. :slight_smile: