Boeing CEO, Dennis Muilenburg confidently stated that the first person to step foot on Mars will arrive there riding a Boeing rocket, at The Atlantic's "What's Next?" conference at Chicago. This response to one of the questions on interplanetary travel at the conference comes just a week after Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, outlined a detailed plan of a mission to Mars.
According to reports by Telegiz, Muilenburg expressed Boeing's intent to explore space tourism. Boeing plans to ferry passengers into low-earth orbit. It is hopeful that with an adequate price drop, space tourism can develop into a "viable commercial market".
Presentation and archived video available at https://t.co/SwNQJ9Z4td pic.twitter.com/KTZ8ryen0E
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) 28 September 2016
Sowing the seeds of an interesting space race with SpaceX, he added "Bring it on, Elon", reported The Mercury News. Adding on, Muilenburg revealed that Boeing is working on a spacecraft that would fly at hypersonic speeds-five or more times the speed of sound,around the Earth, as well as to space stations orbiting the planet. This would be the first step in reaching out beyond the moon and to Mars with civilian space travel.
Meanwhile, late last month, Elon Musk, had expressed that he is looking forward to getting the cost of a Mars trip to $200,000 a person for a voyage of 30 days.
Amid the battle between Musk and Muilenburg, T-Mobile's CEO has expressed that his desire to send a Twitter follower to Mars. As stated by Viral Global News, he has thrown his support behind Musk by offering a $200,000 ticket if his competition for retweets hits one million. The ticket would secure a seat on Musk's SpaceX journey to Mars.
While the war between the leading contenders for space travel continues on who would make it first to the Red planet, it would be interesting to wait and watch who wins the race and when!
