Human flights to Mars still at least 15 years off - ESA head

Jan Woerner, Director General of the European Space Agency (ESA) gestures during an exclusive Reuters interview in the main control room of the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany June 17, 2016. REUTERS/Ralph Orlowski

DARMSTADT, Germany (Reuters) - Dreaming of a trip to Mars? You'll have to wait at least 15 years for the technology to be developed, the head of the European Space Agency (ESA) said, putting doubt on claims that the journey could happen sooner.

"If there was enough money then we could possibly do it earlier but there is not as much now as the Apollo programme had," ESA Director-General Jan Woerner said, referring to the U.S. project which landed the first people on the moon.