Posted by Dusty

Even if astronauts could sustain themselves indefinitely while on a trip to more distant plants it'd he a huge sacrifice because of the time it takes. Whoever would decide to go would probably not see their family for many decades, if ever again. To the outer planets it would practically be a suicide mission in the name of science.

Astronomy is insanely awesome but equally frustrating. Much like geology, first-hand results/data takes a very long time to harvest, and the data that can be is usually miniscule in the grand scale of things. When almost everything around you has lifetimes of billions of years and even the entire lifetime of humans themselves as a race is but a fraction of a fraction of the lifetime of even Earth... it's hard to really ever know anything.

It's exciting to see all the new stuff that science discovers, but also it's saddening to know there is a lot that I will never see happen. Most experiments involved with space take generations or more to reap the rewards. There's just too much to try to ever know over way too long of a time.

with the history of space missions, im sure most astronauts would have come to terms with the fact they may not survive, that it could be a catastrophic failure. im sure the suicide mission scenario would be more of a problem for NASA than for the astronaut, as im not sure what people would think and what laws would apply when it comes to sending someone out to mars to die...  

Posted by Higbey

with the history of space missions, im sure most astronauts would have come to terms with the fact they may not survive, that it could be a catastrophic failure. im sure the suicide mission scenario would be more of a problem for NASA than for the astronaut, as im not sure what people would think and what laws would apply when it comes to sending someone out to mars to die...

The difference is though that the trips to the Moon had all intentions of getting the astronauts back safe and sound, and relatively soon. Going to say... Io would practically be throwing your life away. Even if you do survive and slingshot back home, what will you be coming back to? Your body has probably sustained serious SAS and everyone you left will have most likely moved on. Mars is much more practical, but still a bit timely compared to the Moon... but chances are their families will still be together and intact when they get back. It'd only be a few years at the max, comparable to deploying a soldier, imo.  

Posted by Dusty

The difference is though that the trips to the Moon had all intentions of getting the astronauts back safe and sound, and relatively soon. Going to say... Io would practically be throwing your life away. Even if you do survive and slingshot back home, what will you be coming back to? Your body has probably sustained serious SAS and everyone you left will have most likely moved on. Mars is much more practical, but still a bit timely compared to the Moon... but chances are their families will still be together and intact when they get back. It'd only be a few years at the max, comparable to deploying a soldier, imo.

I think to some of them coming back doesn't matter that much... I know many people like Kurt J Mac that would love to go to mars, even if it was one way.