Mars Landing

The Mars Landing of 2030 is currently the greatest human space accomplishment, and was accomplished only by a conglomeration of 3 nations. (Canada, the UTSNA, and the UAR.)

Spacecraft
The spacecraft (named Ares 1) that took the crew to Mars was designed to be a fully sustainable craft, with no need to take on new oxygen, food, or water supplies. The 5 3/4 month journey required artificial gravity for the astronauts, which was accomplished with three roating rods with crew modules on the end, allowing the gravity to emulate that of Earth. The crew compartments were quite spaciousd due to the mission duration, and each of the six crewmembers got their own room. Each room had a bed, toilet, and sink, along with multiple plants out in anywhere they would fit. In the center of the three artificial gravity rods, there was a central hallway leading to the cockpit. The hallway contained a large hydroponic garden and extra bunks in case one of the habitation modules was damaged. The craft was propelled by a Nuclear Pulse Drive, the most efficient and powerful space propulsion engine ever designed.

Mission Overview
The Ares 1 left Earth orbit in early 2030, a horribly inefficient course was approved by control after a competing craft was launched first. The new course went far too fast, then had the spacecraft do a burn just a couple days before it reached Mars to bring it into an intercept and ultimately allow it to come into Martian Orbit before the competing craft, although inefficient, this course let them get ther much, much faster. The twin landers (Explorer and Eagle), were launched down to the surface and landed at the Martian poles at 2:00 PM GMT on June 21st, 2030. At 2:30 PM GMT the first human set foot on the surface of the red planet, and spoke the following immortal words:

"I stand here not as a citizen of the UTSNA, but as a human being. On this day humanity has taken another great leap into the depths of space.                                                                                                                  He then set up a tripod telescope and pointed it at Earth, and continued speaking.                                        "From here, you can't see any borders. No armies, no missile silos or civil unrest. From here, all you see is a little blue marble hanging in the void of space, a tiny island of life in a lifeless expanse. that is what our homeworld looks like from here."