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Comment by swalsh | Hacker News Reader

"Would you go to Mars?

I would. The first flight would be risky; if I felt comfortable that the company's mission will continue, that my kids have grown up, then I'd be on the first mission."

I love that the risk of death only frightens him from a view point of responsibilities. As the father of his children, and apparently the father of humanities future in space.

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To quote from another interview with him:

"It would be cool to be born on Earth, and die on Mars." (of old age, I assume)

He's repeated a number of variations of that quote. One of the better ones is, I want to die on Mars. Hopefully not on impact.

May I ask why I'm being downvoted here? What rule of HN did I violate?

Not sure. I was going to post this same quote to comment on it. I can only imagine what it must feel like to want to be the first man on Mars and actually have the ability to do it.

Reminds me of the plot of Heinlein's The Man Who Sold The Moon, in which space-loving entrepreneur Delos D. Harriman builds a company big and capable enough to send a manned rocket to the moon, only to find out that his board of directors won't let him go.

Downvotes aren't necessarily punishment; they mean "I want less of this on HN". It might just be that people don't think your comment contributes to the type of discussion they want to have.

> the risk of death only frightens him from a view point of responsibilities

Which view point does death frighten you for?

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