"We're lucky to get to Mars in 2020," Arthur C. Clarke said, lamenting the progress the world has made in space exploration.
The writer, who spoke by telephone from his home in Sri Lanka, was among the participants in an event Monday commemorating the 40th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy's speech at Rice University, where he set forth his goal of landing on the moon.
A panel discussion took place at Houston's Rice Stadium, where Kennedy spoke on Sept. 12, 1962. Clarke spoke about how Kennedy's words, which once inspired the race to space, now have fallen on deaf ears.
"The end of the Cold War removed one of the main motivations for the space race," he said. "We've reached the stage where not one nation, not even the United States, can do it alone. (Space exploration) should be a global enterprise."
The 84-year-old writer, best known for the novel and film "2001: A Space Odyssey," said "the cost of taking human beings to the space station in orbit could be $200" one day.