It looks like Bush is announcing a return to the Moon, and a trip to Mars next Wednesday. All the media are full of it. Newsnight even interviewed Michael Foales onboard the Space Station. Five had a documentary on tonight and is showing Red Planet next week. It really is going to be the year of Mars - well until we land there.
Talking about it with the girls today I realised that Ruth is exactly the same age now (8) as I was when Niel Armstrong landed on the moon in 1969.
I trust the "Moon" bit though is only as a test bed. Reporting keeps on about going to Mars via the Moon which makes no sense.
The one thing that's always struck me, well since seeing The Dish, is that any trip to Mars (and maybe even back to the Moon), won't have the old style Saturn 5 launch. Any Mars probe is likely to be sent up in bits, built in orbit, and then have a crew flown up, probably in stages, to join it.
Well, looks like it could be an interesting week.
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