Humans must have a living base in space: Musk
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San Francisco: Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk opined on Monday that it is disappointing that humanity has not made much progress on the Moon even half a century after the last moon landing. He says that the world should aim to have a living base in space, IANS reported.
It was in 1969 the Apollo 11 mission first landed humans on Moon.
Commander Neil Armstrong and Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin landed the Apollo Lunar Module Eagle on July 20, 1969, and Armstrong became the first person to step onto the Moon's surface six hours and 39 minutes later, on July 21.
Aldrin joined him 19 minutes later, and they spent about two and a quarter hours together exploring the site they had named Tranquility Base upon landing.
"Only 66 years from first flight to landing on the moon, but now half a century has passed since the last moon landing," Musk posted on X.
He said that this cannot be "our high water mark as a civilisation".
"Humanity should have a moon base, cities on Mars and be out there among the stars," the X owner added.
Musk has bigger plans for travelling beyond Earth's orbit.
"We should have a base on the Moon, like a permanently occupied human base on the Moon, and then send people to Mars. Maybe there's something beyond the space station, but we'll see," he had said in the past.
Musk has predicted that in three or four years, SpaceX's Starship mega-rocket can make an uncrewed mission to Mars.
