Space Travel

Don't know the title of that third book,
 but the top one is "How to Build Your Own Spaceship".

   This weekend our youngest grandson, Matthew, was visiting.  He is 17 and very interested in space travel.  He plans to be an engineer.  He brought his latest stash of library books. 

   I was most interested in this book by Buzz Aldrin.  The information on the flyleaf caught my attention:
"Can astronauts reach Mars by 2035?  Can the Earth, its moon and Phobos, a moon of Mars's, serve as hubs for the busy flow of passengers and cargo routinely traversing the inner solar system?
Can the world's powers work together and explore the planet that could be our best bet to support human life?
  Absolutely, says Buzz Aldrin, one of the first men to walk on the moon.  It is not only possible but vital to America's future to keep pushing the space frontier outward for the sake of exploration, science, development, commerce, and security."

I asked Matthew why we need to reach Mars (or any other planet).
His response:
   When a species is faced with extinction, it has three options:
1.) try to adapt
2.) leave and have a good chance of survival
3.) stay and die

  I definitely have been focussed on the first- worrying about plastic grocery bags and take-out coffee cups.  I think we should be cleaning up this planet.  I am not surprised that Matthew's generation is thinking differently.  However, Buzz Aldrin?  He is older than me.  And he writes about his vision for space exploration.
  Words from Buzz: "Dare to dream big". And that seems to be what Matthew is doing.  But he assures me that he will be the person putting the astronauts into the spacecraft and making sure their travel is safe.  (Of course, he said that to appease me, and it worked).  But in 2035, Matthew will be 34 years old and could very well be working on space travel.
  P.S. He also was re-reading the Harry Potter series.