One of these days Alice! To the Mars!

"When my wife, Sonia Van Meter, was chosen as one of the 100 finalists for the Mars One Project, a mission to establish a permanent human colony on Mars, I already knew the answers to these questions (yes, a thousand times yes, she has the right stuff), but I wasn’t prepared for just how much it would change the world she and I live in, so to speak. A couple of years ago, when she put in an application with some 200,000-odd other earthlings vying for the chance to be a “marstronaut,” it was a novelty, great cocktail chatter. But then the pool was whittled down to roughly 1,000 contestants, and that’s when the real scrutiny started. People attacked Sonia, accusing her repeatedly of abandoning her family, of seeking glory at the expense of her earthbound obligations. I attempted to squash or preemptively address the hateful questions and comments hurtled our way by writing about my support for Sonia. The comments got ugly. Things got even uglier when Sonia was named among the 100 finalists and our story burbled to the top of Internet consciousness again, prompting more incendiary backlash against us.

...

"What I am coming to grips with is that this part of my life isn’t mine at all. My world changed, but so did yours. Like Cortez burning the ships once they reached the New World, Mars One will be a one-way trip. What could be my personal horror story would become the world’s grandest adventure, and understanding how this might change my life forced me to realize that Mars One could change everyone’s life. If it succeeds in its mission—establishing a sustainable colony on another planet—it would change the history of humanity by expanding our boundaries beyond this planet. This was bigger than me. It raises existential questions far weightier than how much I’d miss Sonia and whether I remembered who our plumber was or knew where she kept all the passwords."
 
Anyone who knows anything about manned spaceflight knows that we do not have the technology to land humans on the surface of Mars and that we are not likely to develop that capability within the next 10 years.

In all likelihood, Sonia has an equally probable chance of dying on Earth waiting to take off. Her best chance of getting to Mars is to maintain her flight readiness and suitability into her late forties or early fifties, cause a Mars mission probably isn't happening until then at the very least.
 
;) ;)

The piece says that.

Still it reminds me of those who said goodbye to their men as Columbus bravely headed for the edge of the earth.
 
;) ;)

The piece says that.

Still it reminds me of those who said goodbye to their men as Columbus bravely headed for the edge of the earth.

I can remember my surprise when I first learned of the myth of Columbus as a pioneering debunker of a commonly held view of a flat earth (http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2013/05/people-in-columbus-time-did-not-think-the-world-was-flat/).

It never occurred to me to ask the obvious question of how he was able to raise a full crew for three separate vessels among "uneducated" sailors who presumably held such pessimistic prospects for their ultimate survival.
 
I can remember my surprise when I first learned of the myth of Columbus as a pioneering debunker of a commonly held view of a flat earth (http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2013/05/people-in-columbus-time-did-not-think-the-world-was-flat/).

It never occurred to me to ask the obvious question of how he was able to raise a full crew for three separate vessels among "uneducated" sailors who presumably held such pessimistic prospects for their ultimate survival.

Prisons held labor.
 
I can remember my surprise when I first learned of the myth of Columbus as a pioneering debunker of a commonly held view of a flat earth (http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2013/05/people-in-columbus-time-did-not-think-the-world-was-flat/).

It never occurred to me to ask the obvious question of how he was able to raise a full crew for three separate vessels among "uneducated" sailors who presumably held such pessimistic prospects for their ultimate survival.

I think that the legends and rumors of other voyages probably circulated throughout the sailing community.
 
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