The Mars Generation Page #3

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allures of Mars is that Mars is nearby.

Mars is a planet,

and it's a planet with potential.

It once had water. It once had oceans.

Surely, we tell ourselves,

it once had life.

[male voiceover] Science fiction writers

populated the cities

with terrible creatures of heroic size,

with skills beyond earthman's dreams.

[Kluger] This is a place that touches us

in a very basic way.

Another thing is that

it's always had the power

to scare the daylights out of us.

[laser fire]

[screams]

[Kluger] It was always the blood red world

that was just nearby,

that, through telescopes,

appeared to have canals,

which presumed people

or some kind of organisms.

And since the only model we know

for intelligent organisms

is organisms that eventually try to

grab land and resources and go to war,

Mars used to frighten us.

[robot] Welcome to Mars.

[Bill Nye] There's a whole endless string

of movies and television shows and stories

about aliens, alien life.

Now, this is the plan:

get your ass to Mars.

[Urban] When people hear the word "Mars",

they think of science fiction,

of geeks talking about Martians and Mars.

And as soon as we go there

and there's humans there, that changes.

This is not science fiction.

This is now something we do.

This is part of life. This is real.

[Andy Weir] I had no idea that The Martian

would have mainstream appeal.

It never even occurred to me.

I thought I was writing it for this tiny

niche audience of hardcore space dorks.

[shouts for joy]

[Kluger] We fell in love with Mars

a long, long time ago

and our goal now is to be a part of Mars,

is to live on Mars.

[Urban] Doing something as hard

as going to Mars doesn't just happen.

You need like a perfect storm

in many ways.

You need the right moment

with the right funding,

with the right people or person.

[brass band plays celebratory music]

[cheering and applause]

[Nye] Wernher von Braun

is a famous German scientist

and he took these ideas

about how to operate liquid-fueled rockets

and he made these extraordinary spacecraft

that went on to put humans on the Moon.

[music and cheering continue]

[Charles Bolden] Wernher von Braun,

when he designed

and built the Apollo program,

in the back of his mind already,

he was way past Apollo.

He and his team were talking about:

how do we get to Mars?

[music and cheering continue]

We knew that the city of Huntsville

was solidly behind us,

and with your continued support

I will see you back in orbit

with that new space station,

to which we will all ride

in the reusable launch vehicle,

and maybe one day

we'll have a man on Mars.

Thank you.

Gather round while I sing you

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