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Is it dangerous to attempt a manned mission to Mars? Of course it is. All exploration is dangerous. Anytime mankind has pushed the boundaries, people have had to pay a price. Even with all the dangers out in the open, the list of humans that would volunteer for such a mission would be almost endless.

We put men on the moon using less computer power than is found in the cell phones that we all carry. If nothing else, our advances in technology will make the journey safer for the explorers than it was for the brave souls that took part in the missions to the moon. People bring up the failures in the space program all the time and say it is dangerous. Anytime you are sitting on top of millions of pounds of explosive material, there is a potential for a disaster. How many times have we successfully launched men and materials in space? It happens so often now that only the disasters make headlines. We have gotten so good at launching the rockets from the Earth that it is becoming a problem in orbit. Space junk as it is called, old satellites, broken pieces even bolts are zooming around the planet as we speak.

Look at the amount of progress we have made since the beginning of the "space age". In 60 or so years we have put mankind's footprints on the moon and have made it literally possible for someone to walk on another planet. If you look at the actual number of deaths versus the number of people that have been in space and returned safely, the odds are in our favor.

Most of these advances were even made during our Cold War, or the space race. We have now entered an era where nations aren't competing against each other. We are working together. The international space station is a good example. Instead of guarding the information each country has as military secrets, they are sharing for the common purpose. Space exploration.

I don't know if it will happen in my lifetime. I hope that it does. A manned mission to Mars may not even prove anything that we don't already know. What it will do is prove even more that when we work together, not as Americans or Russians or Chinese but as citizens of Earth, we can do what at one time was an impossibility. Mankind can and will walk on another world, maybe even live on it sometime in the not-to-distant future.

Learn more about this author, T. Scott Randolph.
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