Word: planetful
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...even the sunniest scenarios, six years is probably way too fast. No matter how long it takes, however, if human beings are going to make--and fulfill--a commitment to walk on the Red Planet, our biggest shift will have to be a philosophical one. Both NASA and the politicians who keep it funded have spent more than 40 years explaining why the agency exists at all, justifying the expense with a lot of talk about science and spin-offs and educational dividends. They're telling the truth when they make those claims, but only some of it. People...
Using the moon as a launching pad for Mars, as President Bush suggested last week, may not be the most sensible route to the Red Planet. But that doesn't mean a return to the moon shouldn't be part of a reinvigorated human spaceflight program. There are plenty of reasons to go back to the world we abandoned 30 years ago--some fanciful and futuristic, others quite practical...
...more practical end, the moon offers unique opportunities for scientific research. Going there is the only way to figure out where the moon came from, for example. Current theory says it was blasted from Earth in a collision with a planet-size object billions of years ago, but the moon rocks we have in hand from the Apollo missions don't offer enough mineralogical clues to prove or refute the idea...
...offering golf outings on the moon or honeymoon suites in an orbiting hotel. Forget the golf for at least the next few decades. But as early as 2007 it may be possible to take a slingshot ride to the edge of the atmosphere for a celestial view of the planet and a few minutes of weightlessness--for a bargain price of $98,000. Space Adventures of Arlington, Va., is marketing that trip and claims that 100 would-be astronauts have already put down deposits. An orbiting hotel may not be so far behind. Nevada real estate magnate Robert Bigelow says...
...thought of travel to Mars is exhilarating. Surely men and women will someday walk upon that planet, and surely they will make wondrous discoveries about geology and the history of the solar system, perhaps even about the very origin of life. Many times I have stared up at Mars in the evening sky--in the mountains, away from cities, you can almost see the red tint--and wondered what is there, or was there...