The crew of Apollo 11, the NASA mission that 40 years ago Monday first put a man on the moon, marked the occasion with President Obama at the White House. The president hailed their accomplishments as a boon to the home planet. But astronauts of the Apollo series aren’t satisfied with such earthbound praise—they want a national commitment to send Americans to Mars.
The former vice president has given America 10 years to completely shuck carbon energy or face dire national security consequences. In remarks to an energy conference in the nation’s capital, Gore compared his challenge to John Kennedy’s 1961 moongazing.