Blog #6

 My Topic

                    It seems that Dennis Tito, the founder of a private space organization called, "Inspiration Mars Foundation" is planning to work with SpaceX to send a flyby mission to Mars by 2018!  Apparently Dennis Tito was the first commercial astronaut who came aboard the International Space Station during 2001. Overall, he spent a total of $20 million on the voyage.  Dennis vows to the claim that he and SpaceX will only use existing technology for the sake of keeping everything cheap and reusable.  Another way in which he will keep the cost down is by only pursuing a brief fly-by of the red planet.  

                His main objective is to spark the planning of a manned mission to Mars into a spur of progress.  After the fly-by mission in 2018, he then plans on using reusable technology, designed by SpaceX, to send a man to Mars.  He does seem to get the fact that NASA is constantly sending mission to Mars, however they are run by robots, rather than humans.  Which is why he wants to send a man to Mars, because he believes sending a man will obtain the full potential of the mission, especially when it comes to finding either life itself or signs of life.   

Blog #5

My Topic

                             Even though it may not seem like NASA has done anything to plan for a series of manned missions to Mars, they have been planning for quite a while now.  For example, the whole reason why the government decided to fund the ISS (International Space Station) was to figure out how to live in space, for a set amount of time.  That amount of time could include 3 months to 5 - 10 years.  That is exactly why they ISS scientists have been at work for over 15 years now when the project was started in 1998.  However, construction for the ISS has many dates for its beginning because the station is made up of many different space stations from other nations.  Other nations who contributed in the construction of the International Space Station was USA, Russia, and many European nations. 

                              More recently speaking, on March 1st of 2013, a private space company called SpaceX, launched a space capsule called Dragon, aboard a Falcon 9 rocket,.  This capsule is meant to give the active space scientists supplies, such as food, water.  As it turns out, NASA is planning to make the ISS a permanent human outpost in space. If you wish to learn more about the ISS and NASA's effort to set a man on Mars, here is the link: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html