Former NASA astronaut Jos\u00e9 Hern\u00e1ndez said Monday that travel to Mars is \u201ca good 15 years away.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAs I’ve always said \u2026 space travel is not trivial, and so what we need to do next is, we’re going to retire the International Space Station, invest that \u2014 that operational money in developing a lunar base where technologies that are needed to go to Mars need to be developed and tested and proved, because right now, there’s too many technical hurdles,\u201d Hern\u00e1ndez told NewsNation\u2019s Blake Burman on \u201cThe Hill.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’re a good 15 years away from going to Mars, not five years as Elon Musk alludes to,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Hern\u00e1ndez\u2019s comments come a day before astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are set to return to Earth following a stay of nine months at the International Space Station. NASA said Sunday that it met with Musk\u2019s spacecraft company SpaceX to \u201cassess weather and splashdown conditions\u201d off Florida\u2019s coast and was aiming for a landing later Tuesday \u201cbased on favorable conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe updated return target continues to allow the space station crew members time to complete handover duties while providing operational flexibility ahead of less favorable weather conditions expected for later in the week,\u201d NASA said in a press release.<\/p>\n