Video: Ray Bradbury speaks at Caltech

Science fiction author Ray Bradbury, who passed away at 91 Tuesday, was a fan of NASA.

He attended events regularly at Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Caltech, according to the space agency.

In one notable Caltech symposium on Nov. 12, 1971, the “Martian Chronicles” author gathered with Arthur C. Clarke, Walter Sullivan, Carl Sagan and Bruce Murray as the Mariner 9 was about to begin orbit on Mars.

In a video from JPL, Bradbury begins, “I don’t know what in the hell I’m doing here. I’m the least scientific of all the people up on the platform here today.”

“I was hoping, that during the last few days, as we got closer to Mars and the dust cleared, that we’d see a lot of Martians standing there with huge signs saying, ‘Bradbury was right,’” he says in the video, referring to children disagreeing with scientific elements in his books.

Bradbury later reads from one of his poems,“If Only We Had Taller Been.”

FULL COVERAGE:

Ray Bradbury dies at 91; author lifted fantasy to literary heights

An Appreciation: Ray Bradbury: A voice shaped by L.A.

-- Tiffany Kelly, Times Community News

Twitter: @LATiffanyKelly