NASA is sending humans to Mars

Science Alert ^ | December 2, 2014 | BEC CREW

[Mellonkronos]

[I love the idea of going to Mars. We humans are explorers and pioneers. But if government does this, it will be just too costly, like the Apollo Moon program. Elon Musk of the private SpaceX company already has put rockets into space and he wants to send settlers to Mars, including himself. So since governments have screwed up this planet, how about reserving Mars for free people?!]

Breaking: NASA is sending humans to Mars

NASA has announced that a test launch of their Orion space capsule will take place on Thursday, in the first step of a mission that will take people to Mars by mid-2030.

In a live webcast, NASA has announced that it’s on its way to taking humans further than they’ve ever been before, with the planned December 4 test flight of their Orion space capsule - the spacecraft that they say will soon take humans to the Red Planet.

According to Ryan Barrell at The Huffington Post, launching with the Space Launch System rocket, Orion will orbit the Earth twice for the first time on a 4.5-hour unmanned mission called Exploration Flight Test-1 to test various systems such as its 1,200 sensors and launch abort system. The capsule will be flying at about 5,800 kilometres above the Earth, which is roughly 15 times the height that the International Space Station is orbiting at.

When it’s done, the capsule will splash down into the Pacific Ocean, and the US Navy will pick it up. "We do have radiation sensors on board, for example, so we're actually measuring different parts of the vehicle for what we're seeing, what the environment is inside," Orion program manager Mark Geyer told the press today. "We have 1,200 sensors, and a lot of those are loads, so they measure …

[PIF]

Well, some of us had hope ... then came the Dem deluge.

[OftheOhio]

Send me now, with a 1911 and M16. I want to be the first to Rock and roll on Mars.

[Mellonkronos]

Thanks! Nice thread. Love the pics!