NASA has selected 12 volunteers who will go to Mars

NASA is in full swing working on a manned expedition to Mars. In early June, the agency even announced the names of the lucky ones who should be among the first people on the Red Planet. But before that, they need to undergo serious training, and NASA to solve several issues on which the future of the expedition depends.

Mars dozen

The NASA astronaut team, which will fly to Mars in the future, includes seven men and five women. Here are their names: Jessica Watkins, Loral O'Hara, Jasmine Mogbeli, Francisco Rubio, Xena Cardman, Kyle Barron, Raya Chari, Bob Hines, Matthew Dominic, Warren Hoburg, Johnny Kim and Robb Culin.

Photo: NASA

In total, 18.3 thousand applications were submitted. All applicants passed the strictest selection according to various parameters, which included not only physical data, but also psychological tests, the possession of the necessary skills and more. As a result, the class of astronauts in 2017 was supplemented by mechanics, engineers and scientists with perfect physical and mental health.

They will need all this for several years of a rigid space drill according to a special program. It includes work on the International Space Station, trips beyond Earth orbit, and test flights on the Orion multipurpose ship (MPCV), which NASA originally developed for long-term space missions. Orion provides life support and thermal protection systems, as well as power plants and the most modern avionics.

In the photo: Orion spaceship / Source: NASA

Houston, we have problems

According to an optimistic scenario, NASA plans its first manned flight to Mars by the end of the 2020s. The agency faces both technical problems (how to protect the crew from radiation and ensure safety and life support during the flight), and purely bureaucratic. Recently, Congress and the US Presidential Administration, when discussing the NASA budget, recommended that the agency focus on flights to the moon: cheaper, they say, and there are fewer problems.

In addition, private competitors are breathing in the back: the Mars One project and the company Ilona Mask SpaceX. True, and they are not so smooth. Mars One under the direction of Bas Lansdorp involves turning the expedition into a reality show with round-the-clock broadcasting on television. The flight with the first participants of the show was recently rescheduled from 2022 to 2026, before that Mars was ejected by “packages” with all the necessary equipment for life.

Pictured: Dragon spaceship / Source: SpaceX

The Mask project is more pragmatic. SpaceX is deliberately testing reusable launch vehicles and spacecraft: it is on their basis that a ship will be developed that will deliver people to Mars as part of the Red Dragon project. At the beginning of 2017, the company's management announced that instead of the planned 2018, the first test ship would go to Mars no earlier than 2020. And already with people on board - by 2026.