NASA shocker: The astronaut reveals that humans could have been on Mars in the 1960s

NASA's Curiosity Rover Takes Selfie During Dust Storm (Credit: NASA)

Astronaut Chris Hadfield says we could have sent humans to Mars in the 1960s – but there is a very good reason for that.

The former commander of the International Space Station said the risk of death was too high.

"We could send people to Mars decades ago," Hadfield told Business Insider.

"The technology that led us to the moon when I was a kid – this technology can bring us to Mars." 19659007] Hadfield was referring to the famous Apollo 11 mission: it is the space flight that put the first two people on the moon.

Americans Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon July 20, 1969 – and Hadfield is convinced The problem, according to Hadfield, is that these classic space shuttles would take too long to get to Mars.

This poses many risks, especially diseases caused by the virus. harsh environments in the space.

"T" Most astronauts we send in these missions would not do it, "he says.

" They would die. "

The astronaut adds," Mars is over far away from most people's opinion 19659007] Hadfield is not mistaken: there is an immense distance between the Earth and Mars, the red planet being about 600 times farther away from us than the moon.

Situation is complicated by the fact that the distance is constantly changing as the two planets revolve around the sun.

The closest Earth and Mars can ever be is a distance of 33.9million miles – or 9,800 times longer than the trip from London and New York.

A more useful distance is the average gap, which is even larger at 140 million miles.

The launch of shuttles to Mars has so far taken a long time – from 128 to 333 days.

This is an incredible period of time for r be on board shuttled shuttle, especially one so far from the Earth – where the possibility of rescue missions are almost impossible

Astronauts who spend a lot of time in space are faced at significant risk.

One is the threat of radiation in the deep space that can cause cancer.

A 2016 study published in the journal Nature revealed that astronauts who spend a lot of time in space are at greater risk of fatal heart disease.

Hadfield compared the feat of putting humans on Mars to the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan "Magellan, when he launched in 1519, they launched with five ships and 250 people to try to make the Around the world once, and almost everyone is dead, "says Hadfield.

He said that the current mechanisms of space travel of "flaming chemical rockets" are "the equivalent of using a sailboat or a pedal boat to try to travel around the sea. " (19659007) world. "

There are a lot of space companies that claim to be proposing Mars' voyage in the near future, but Hadfield is skeptical that their use to put people on Mars is a good idea.

They include the Space Launch System NASA, Big Falcon Rocket and technology billionaire Elon Musk) and Blue Origin's new Glenn rocket (funded by Amazon's founder Jeff Bezos).

"I think we'll never go on Mars with the engines that exist on one of these three rockets unless we "I do not think it's a practical way to send people to Mars because they're dangerous and it takes too much time, and this therefore exposes us to a long-term risk. "

" Someone must invent something we have not thought of yet, "said Hadfield

This story was originally published in The Sun.