On 25 Dec 2003 22:05:34 -0800, (Mark Herring)
wrote:

And there are those who are serious about sending manned missions to
Mars.

I'm all for doing it when the technology is reliable but one for three
would be looking pretty grim with a graveyard in solar orbit. Out of
the six Apollo missions that made it to the lunar surface, wanna give
odds that we would have continued if twelve astros had died in the
process?

First return to the Moon, THEN Mars.


I agree -- use Mars as the proving ground for spacecrafts habitats.
Remember, a crew that goes to mars just can't hop in its ship and
return like Apollo did, but has to wait for the planets to reallign --
30 to 100 days for a "short duration" mission (although this requires
a massive course correction either going out or comming back, so
that's where you see talk about a flyby of Venus on the return, to get
a gravity assist), 500 days for a "long duration" mission. Also have
the crew stocked with spair parts and a couple of crew members who are
dedicated flight enigneers -- they fix what's broke.