UPI Exclusive: Bush OKs new moon missions

Going to mars without landing means the ship won't be able to manufacture fuel
on Mars for the return journey. (although this would not prevent the lander
from relying on Mars-manufactured fuel).

The journey to the Moon's surface is totally pointless in my opinion. The ISS
is a far better platform to test a year long mission, hardware performance,
reliability and servicability in space.

If they build a ship capable of sustaining X crewmembers for one year and send
it off just for an orbit around mars, bring it back and then send another
mission to mars, one would hope that such a ship (which would have to be even
bigger than the current space station) would be reused and as a result, remain
in earth orbit upon return so it can be refurbished for the next mission.

It is doubtful that a mars vehicle could be launched as a single piece. Some
assembly in LEO will be required, and so will a lot of missions that will
bring the fuel to the vehicle.

Manned mission to mars, yes. But I am not sure that this can or should be
achieved with the priorities outlined in the document.


Can humans really spend 6 months in 0g and then land on a planet and function
productively ? If not, they will require some sort of centrigugal accomodation
module wherte they can spend a few hours per day.