I Don’t Need These Russians 115
tially lethal rockets and pay the money needed? “My theory
was to apply the majority of my effort to the space arena,
because there is not a natural economic forcing function
that will lead to space exploration,” Elon said.^52 As the
world’s oil supply decreases, the price of oil will increase,
and the market will automatically motivate engineers to
design machines not dependent on oil. These market forces
are currently not present in space because nothing will
force us to go to space unless an asteroid or a new military
power threaten us.
Of the three things that in the future will most affect
the future of humanity, Elon had already tried Internet two
times. Since the transition to a sustainable energy economy
will take care of itself, space exploration, particularly ex-
tension of life to multiple planets, needed Elon more.
Elon and Ressi needed to find a way to make space
interesting once again. “We were going to show the world
that two guys with money and vision could reach Mars, and
that it wasn’t that bad a place,” Ressi said.^278 When NASA
realized the public began losing interest in space, they had
roughly the same idea as Elon and Ressi. To make us more
interested in space, NASA decided to turn a teacher into an
astronaut. The chosen teacher, Christa McAuliffe, boarded
the Space ShuttleChallengerin 1986. 73 seconds after the
launch, the Space Shuttle broke apart. All seven astronauts
were killed together with our remaining interest in space.
The first idea Elon and Ressi had was to send green
plants to Mars. The name of the project was Mars Oasis.
With a $65 million price tag to complete the project, Elon