Elon Musk admits ‘a bunch of people will probably die’ during SpaceX’s initial voyages to Mars but has insisted it will be a ‘glorious adventure and amazing experience’.
The SpaceX founder was speaking with Peter Diamandis, founder of the X Prize Foundation when he made the stark prediction according to a report by DailyMail.
Musk has already said he hopes to get humans on Mars by 2026, seven years before NASA aims to land astronauts on the Red Planet.
However, a barefoot Musk warned Thursday:
Going to Mars reads like that advert for Shackleton going to the Antarctic. You know it is dangerous, it’s uncomfortable and it’s a long journey. You might not come back alive but it is a glorious adventure and it will be an amazing experience. Yeah, honestly a bunch of people will probably die in the beginning. It’s tough going over there.
SpaceX brought spaceflight back to America in May last year by launching NASA astronauts from Kennedy Space Center in Florida to the International Space Station (ISS), an event that has not happened in nearly a decade.
Dubbed ‘Launch America,’ it was also the first time a private company has put astronauts into space. In February Musk told the Good Times Show his goal was to establish a self-sustaining Martian civilization.
NASA plans to put the first humans on Mars by 2033 as part of its Artemis program that will see the next man and first woman land on the Moon in 2024.
Although Musk hopes to achieve his goal of landing humans on the Red Planet by 2026, he was realistic and said it isn’t a hard deadline due to the technical hurdles.
Musk says there are a number of technological advances that need to be made between now and 2026 before humans can travel to Mars on Starship.
These include ensuring Starship is fully reusable and that it can reach orbit where it is able to refuel ready for the long six-month trip to Mars.
