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A Fresh Challenge for Elon Musk
Aug. 25th, 2012 10:23 pmHow he could honour Neil Armstrong: ensure that there is never a point where no human alive has walked upon the moon.
There are now eight of twelve Apollo moonwalkers left; if Musk wants to show what SpaceX can really do, he can aim to land and safely return a human on a lunar mission whilst at least one of those moonwalkers is still alive. The youngest, Charles Duke (LM Pilot, Apollo 16), is 76 and two others are still in their seventies, so statistically he should have a decade or so to achieve this. Seeing as how he's gone in the last decade from Powerpoint presentations to flying return missions to the Space Station it's not beyond the realm of the possible he might manage it.
There are now eight of twelve Apollo moonwalkers left; if Musk wants to show what SpaceX can really do, he can aim to land and safely return a human on a lunar mission whilst at least one of those moonwalkers is still alive. The youngest, Charles Duke (LM Pilot, Apollo 16), is 76 and two others are still in their seventies, so statistically he should have a decade or so to achieve this. Seeing as how he's gone in the last decade from Powerpoint presentations to flying return missions to the Space Station it's not beyond the realm of the possible he might manage it.
