SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
MISSION CONTROL :
Jim , we ’ ve got loads of information we will be going over . I ’ m just going to record it so I don ’ t miss anything , if that ’ s ok .
DR . JIM RICE :
Yeah ….. and I warn you sometimes I talk too much , so just tell me to shut up if you need to .
Mission Control : [ Laughing ] That ’ s what the recordings for Jim , so I don ’ t have to tell you that . Now I have to ask you , is there any sort of competition / race between countries to get people to Mars ?
Jim Rice : Not really , it ’ s not really like it was in the 60 ’ s . I mean the Apollo program was part of the cold war and the NASA budget was about 41 / 2 - 5 % of the Gross National Product at the time . Which is huge , now it ’ s down in the weeds . It ’ s nothing compared to what it used to be in the Apollo days . Fear is a great motivator . So it ’ s not the same .
I mean those personalities : Kennedy , Khrushchev ; the Cold War , all this stuff going on – space it ’ s a frontier , just like another theater in the cold war and proving our freedom , democracy and our way of life and that our technology is better than what the Soviets had to offer back then .
So there ’ s nothing out there . People try to talk about one [ the Space Race ] between the US and China . It ’ s just not really panning out like that . I think that the Cold War was a unique point in history . It would be hard for that to roll around in the same form or fashion . There ’ s not really a firm competition between countries to get to Mars right now . It could change , of course . You know , a space program is a showcase for your country ’ s technology , so your political system can take pride . It can be used for propaganda purposes as well . So other nations are interested in that , but it ’ s just not a race like it was in the ‘ 60 ’ s – an all-out race . Like I said , things could change , but not right now . If it was a priority , we could have gone to mars a decade ago .
MISSION CONTROL :
So there ’ s not a race to Mars ? Then who will be the next country to go to the moon ?
DR . JIM RICE :
The Chinese appear to be heading , in terms of astronauts , to the moon . I don ’ t know when they will do that , they haven ’ t really pinpointed a day or year yet , but it ’ s probably going to happen around 2020 to 2025 - somewhere in that window , I ’ m guessing . It will be interesting when they do that because the United States , at least at this moment in time which we speak , have no plans to put a man on the surface of the moon either .
The Chinese , I ’ ll use them because I think they will be the next nation , unless we get our game together over here , they ’ ll be the next nation to put people on the moon . For most people in the world , its kind-of going to be like the first time . I did some numbers the other day . Out of the world ’ s population today 75 % of the world population were either too young to remember or weren ’ t born yet when we landed on the moon . If the Chinese do put people on the surface of the moon , for most people in the world , it ’ s going to be like the first time . Apollo will be 50 , 50 + years ago when it happened .
Europeans are talking about a moon or lunar village type thing . There ’ s a lot of countries talking about the moon and the US kind-of isn ’ t right now , but you know that could change and I just wonder that if the Chinese do put people on the surface of the moon , what that will be like ?
You can imagine the technology being HD video , or whatever it ’ s called then , and Chinese astronauts are going to be tweeting , or whatever it ’ s going to be called then , from the surface of the moon , it ’ s going to be different . And my question I have is for the United States is : What is it going to do to the population of the United States ? Are they going to shrug their shoulders and go , mmm that ’ s cool ….. we did it 50 years ago ? Is it going to get people to say we should be doing these types of things again ?
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1961 Magazine Fall 2016