Space architectures capable of supporting a permanent human presence on Mars are extraordinarily complex, with many different interdependent systems.

Space architectures capable of supporting a permanent human presence on Mars are extraordinarily complex, with many different interdependent systems.

I'm not in favor of just taking short-term isolated situations and depleting our resources to keep our climate just the way it is today.

Long-term, I see robotics prevailing on the moon. . . . The most important decision we'll have to make about space travel is whether to commit to a permanent human presence on Mars. Without it, we'll never be a true space-faring people.

What comes after the moon? I think you can guess: Mars.

I'm convinced that sending people to Mars is so expensive that if you go once and bring the people back and then go again and bring the people back, we're eventually going to run out of money. But what if we send people the first time and they don't come back? What if they stay there?

They didn’t tell me I was going into space until after they locked the shuttle doors and started counting down.