The f*&king moon, and why it's so hard to get to Mars

Two videos today to share, one less serious than the other. We'll start with this one:



And the next one at 45 minutes instead of 2 was uploaded yesterday, and is a great 101 on just what it takes to get a manned mission to Mars vs. LEO and the moon. There is no insinuation that "and that's why we should give up on ever getting a manned mission to Mars", but it entirely avoids painting the rosy picture one often sees by its advocates. One thing Mars first and Mars later advocates can definitely agree upon though is this: due to the challenges of getting there in the first place, designing a mission to come back within a year or so is simply out of the question. One way followed by a LONG stay (a decade, perhaps) and then maybe occasionally sending part of the crew back home is probably all we can hope for in the near future.