Interplanetary travel will become "commonplace" in the next 50 years, World War I ace Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker predicts.
"In fact," he told an audience of Rotarians yesterday, "space ships in the year 2007 will be semi-self-sustaining planets in themselves."
Rickenbacker, who is now chairman of the board of Easter Airlines, also foresaw the day when "nuclear powered guided missiles will reach speeds up to 25,000 miles an hour."
See also:
The Complete Book of Space Travel (1956)
Man and the Moon (1955)
Mars and Beyond (1957)
Challenge of Outer Space (circa 1950s)
Animal Life on Mars (1957)
Plant Life on Mars (1957)
There's an airport named after Rickenbacker close to my house. I see nuclear powered rockets leaving there all the time.
ReplyDeleteIt just astounds me how much the real 21st Century doesn't resemble all the brochures published about it in the 20th Century.
ReplyDeleteRickenbacker was usually very good with his predictions. Like this quote in Popular Science in July, 1924: "Within the next few decades, autos will have folding wings that can be spread when on a straight stretch of road so that the machine can take to the air." And later, "Someday the American people will erect a monument to his [McCarthy's] memory."
ReplyDeleteOf course, he was extremely successful in everything he did, so I guess a couple quotes don't really amount do a hill of beans.
The wistfulness of living in 2007 and NOT having any of these 20th centruy promises is almost unbearable at times.
ReplyDeleteCompany proposes travel to Mars.
ReplyDeletehttp://nlspropulsion.net