If America is so "exceptional", when is our mission to Mars?

[RandySF]

Have you ever noticed how those who push the concept of "American Exceptionalism" are the same people who want government to do jack shit about anything except enforce reading of the Bible, wiping the ass of the rich and killing everyone else? Winning World War II was exceptional. Wiping out polio was exceptional. Going to the moon was exceptional. Yet there I was at the cinema today, looking at my son during the movie trailor "Interstellar" and wonder if he has something more to look forward to than building a better Walmart. I want him to want to be an astronaut. I want him to live in a country to that does big things the way we used to. And dammit, let's start by going to Mars.

[Uncle Joe]

1. I believe mastering space travel is a must, to give additional insurance for

the survival of our species.

I don't view it as necessarily or even best done under the auspice of "American Exceptional-ism."

I believe the best strategy for accomplishing this goal is international cooperation for both practical and symbolic reasons.

Thanks for the thread, Randy.

[Jim Beard]

2. Our Missions to Mars are in

the Bush tax cuts.

[Uncle Joe]

3. I believe that will be rectified and one way or the other we will go, it's just a matter of time.

If not for best case altruistic, practical international reasons then to stay up to or in keeping ahead of other nations that will.

[blkmusclmachine]

4. ,

,

[longship]

5. Going to Mars is a very, very tough task.

Consider just landing there, even for unmanned probes -- Russia's rather poor record attempting it, or Curiosities rather radical solution, which worked perfectly.

Then there's the many month journey. During the Apollo 11 mission, President Nixon actually had composed a letter for the event that Neil and Buzz were left on the moon to die. (One wonders which Nixon speech writer composed it -- please not science illiterate Pat Buchanan or Ben Stein.) In short, how does one shield humans from the radiation of space? That is one of the tough tasks we need to solve before we can even think about landing a human on Mars. Then there's the poop, and so many other issues (no pun intended).

BTW, I am all for spending billions of dollars to solve the problems and do this. We need another Apollo program to go to Mars, and go back to the Moon to stay.

I just wish that their would be more people like JFK, Gene Kranz, James Lovell, and all the lunatic visionaries who had the audacity to dream that we could land humans on the moon and safely bring them back. (I mention Kranz because I just watched Apollo 13 where Ed Harris fairly channels the iconic flight director. Don't get me started about the incredible value of people like Gunther Wendt who held court mostly as the last guy who closed many a spacecraft hatch.) It is often the small people who make the system work so flawlessly as in the Apollo program. And their stories are important.

To those who would argue against manned space missions I would point out the value of the many incredible stories. Consider the multitude of Mars lander failures, and then consider Apollo 13, or the Challenger failure. Human space travel is risky. But the narratives of those who succeed and those who failed are worthy. When human flesh is involved, those stories become so much more than important --we literally have skin in the game. And by the way, Magellan never sailed around the world. He died on a Pacific island. (But that's another story.)

[Johonny]

6. There's a rover on Mars right now.

So mission accomplished.

[Romulox]

7. Mars? I doubt we could get back to the moon atm. Certainly no way we could put a colony up there. nt

[MineralMan]

8. We have landed rovers on Mars.

You don't remember that, or the amazing photos we've seen? Manned missions? That's not happening for a long time. But, we're on Mars already.

[Boom Sound 416]

9. Check out the nasa website

[BumRushDaShow]

10. Hey!

I resemble that remark!





Next mission - http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mars2020/

The goal has to be done in phases - http://www.space.com/25690-nasa-asteroid-redirect-mission-mars.html

And some private entities are intent on doing it themselves - http://www.mars-one.com/news/press-releases/mars-one-will-settle-men-on-mars-in-2023

http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/184640-spacex-says-it-will-put-humans-on-mars-by-2026-almost-10-years-ahead-of-nasa

[ladjf]

11. If America is so "exceptional" when are thousands of humanitarian

changes going to done? nt

[NM_Birder]

12. Vikng and Mariner were sending data back

via orbital operations lasting over a year, and fly-by data collection since back in the 1970's

The United States has operational data collection occurring right now on the surface .......on Mars. No other nation on earth has a record of successful missions that even comes close to the United States. not. even close.