The Mars Generation

I have no information from anyone in space.

I mean, this is important.

Ground Leader checking in.

I was directly told that we cannot land on Mars before we do a med check.

Meteor shower incoming!

We have a meteor shower!

CAPCOM, come in.

Guys, just stay calm. We believe the orbiter can survive the meteor shower.

I believe we have a leak.

OK, pressure's going down. This is bad.

What do we do?

Get them out of here!

No! Oh my god!

Throw them in the FEMA hallway!

Moderate cabin pressure onboard the Station.

Cabin leak check. Losing air pressure.

Are we dead?

Are we OK?

All in a day's work!

Space for me is one of the things that defines me most, I think.

It really is a central part of who I am.

I am a space nerd.

Yeah, I would say that I am a space nerd!

I am the biggest space nerd of all the space nerds ever.

It may not look like it, but I am.

Because space is space and it's awesome.

- Up here we may be slightly... - OK, stand by.

We have you go for orbit. You're go for orbit.

When we look at the night sky, we think

"Are there any planets out there that are possible homes for humanity?"

The spacecraft almost seemed to grow stronger as the days went by.

Going to Mars will foster an entire revolution

in how people think about how they will invest their brain energy

in their lives and in their careers.

By the way, this next generation wants to do it because they know it's cool.

Go for landing, 3,000 feet.

You're looking great, so we know it will be a good flight.

Astronauts report it feels good.

It's been over 50 years

since we've done something significant like this.

Having a man, or woman, walk on Mars

is just the most badass thought in my mind.

Liftoff.

I think Mars is an interesting planet

and it would be fascinating to do science there.

We just had word from Houston

we're ready to have you get out whenever you're ready.

OK, we've got our go now. Is that right?

Affirmative.

This is where people are going to live, on another planet,

close enough to get there in under a year.

So yes, it's dangerous! Yes, it's never been attempted.

Yes, you're probably gonna die.

But you can do it still.

How you doing, Mission Control?

- Good. - Telcom? Guidance, happy?

- Go! - Final go!

2,000 feet. 2,000 feet. Into the air, 47 degrees.

Roger.

Does anyone regret going to the Moon?

Does anyone who lived in the 60s say, "What a waste of time,

I wish we hadn't done that."? No. Going to the Moon was awesome.

Everyone's happy we went to the Moon! Mars is even cooler.

Mariner is the spacecraft. Mars is the destination.

Americans could once again look up towards their future with faith

and with confidence.

We're focused on Mars. That's NASA's ultimate goal.

To lead other nations, and particularly ourselves,

with humans to Mars.

The retrograde rockets will be tested in space.

The antenna housing will transmit telemetry.

Ever since I was little, I've always had a passion for space.

It would be so amazing just to see the Martian surface with my own eyes.

T minus 25 seconds.

We will go to Mars. Let's go out there and explore.

Let's make discoveries. Let's change the world.

- Is this the PCS right here? - OK, the L Cone...

A couple of things you need to know.

When the launch happens going to Mars, what are we going to say to the press?

I mean, I'm sure Neil Armstrong had a ton of time

to think what his first words would be.

I know what I would say. What do we want?

Oranges.

When do we want we want them? Oranges!

Fantastic. That's a great monologue.

However, we're going to transition to practicing your checklists now.

Everybody has a checklist that was either on their seat

or around their space.

It's under your suits.

It's what happens when you start before the mission starts.

Coming to Space Camp is the closest I can really get to space,

at least emotionally and psychologically.

7A on.

Do you guys feel good?

C auto.

Tank 9. Reset.

This is the suiting up process.

We'll transition over.

Grab the book. You got it?

If people want to call me a space nerd,

they can call me a space nerd.

And I'll say "Yeah, so what do you want to know about space?

You want to know about SRBs, egress, ECLSS?"

And they'll be like "What?"

And I'll be like "So, wait, which one did you want to know about?

Cause I can give you at least five,

maybe ten minutes of conversation for each one.

Come at me, bro!"

-Let me out of this. -Come on, Josh!

Today, we were the first group ever to test out this new Mars Mission.

This mission is a futuristic mission,

obviously, because we haven't gone to Mars at this point.

This is MEB, the Mars Elysium Base.

And this base has been delivered to Mars already

with all the gear that you guys are gonna need to set it up, OK?

The Mars Mission is something that they've had in R&D for a while.

It's exhilarating, the fact that we are simulating a mission to Mars.

You got your guy out there. Pull it up.

We are training to go to Mars.

We know that there will be problems because it is dangerous.

We need to have the simulator as close to a nominal mission as possible.

This is gonna be intense!

Space Camp was designed to simulate the peak of NASA.

This is cool! Woah!

Here at Space Camp, we learn a lot about space history

and what it will be like to be an astronaut.

All of the simulators here, NASA has been recruited to help design.

So, they're as close as we can get to what the astronauts actually use.

Oh my God!

This is my third year at Space Camp.

I said, "I'm going to apply for a scholarship,"

because being an astronaut is something I don't want to give up on.

I'm going up whether I want to or not!

I had to get three letters of recommendation,

I had to write two essays,

and I had to do a science experiment

and break it down in the scientific method.

Oh! Good job, Victoria!

I believe that the people who come here

are the future of the space program.

It's really giving us an education

on how to be a person who works with space on a daily basis.

When I grow up, I would like to be CAPCOM for NASA.

-I want to become a mission specialist. -Be a machine toolist.

I want to be an engineer.

Aerospace engineer.

It would be amazing to construct engines for a mission to Mars.

When you enter the base and turn on the emergency power,

it turns to red lighting.

That's what we're wanting...

The base that they've designed up there is fascinating.

The base is all powered down.

They have to turn on the communications array,

set up the solar panels, set up all of the ECLSS systems,

and also set up a greenhouse

because somebody might want to eat up there.

- Activate the power. - Hey, guys. The hydro popo is in here.

The fact that people are now even teaching children,

16 year-olds, 15 year-olds,

saying, "Hey, we're going to Mars" and simulating how it would work out,

means they'll grow up and we'll grow up to believe: hey, we're going to Mars.

So let's go to Mars.

I'll go there in a minute.

Well, good luck.

Of all the planets in the solar system,

Earth and Mars, the third and fourth planets from the Sun,

are the most similar.

But despite the similarities, Mars is essentially like no other planet.

One of the greatest allures of Mars is that Mars is nearby.

Mars is a planet, and it's a planet with potential.

It once had water. It once had oceans.

Surely, we tell ourselves, it once had life.

Science fiction writers populated the cities

with terrible creatures of heroic size, with skills beyond earthman's dreams.

This is a place that touches us in a very basic way.

Another thing is that it's always had the power

to scare the daylights out of us.

It was always the blood red world that was just nearby,

that, through telescopes, appeared to have canals,

which presumed people or some kind of organisms.

And since the only model we know for intelligent organisms

is organisms that eventually try to grab land and resources and go to war,

Mars used to frighten us.

Welcome to Mars.

There's a whole endless string of movies and television shows and stories

about aliens, alien life.

Now, this is the plan: get your ass to Mars.

When people hear the word "Mars",

they think of science fiction, of geeks talking about Martians and Mars.

And as soon as we go there and there's humans there, that changes.

This is not science fiction. This is now something we do.

This is part of life. This is real.

I had no idea that The Martian would have mainstream appeal.

It never even occurred to me.

I thought I was writing it for this tiny niche audience of hardcore space dorks.

We fell in love with Mars a long, long time ago

and our goal now is to be a part of Mars, is to live on Mars.

Doing something as hard as going to Mars doesn't just happen.

You need like a perfect storm in many ways.

You need the right moment with the right funding,