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As we all know, traveling into space, even on short missions, is a very difficult endeavor.

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But the complexity increases dramatically when planning for missions that last for months or years at a time.

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With current predictions of crew travel to Mars lasting at least three years,

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NASA researchers must find a way to prepare our astronauts for long missions.

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To help us understand some of the challenges future astronauts will face,

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Tonya St. Romain spoke with Orlando Figueroa at NASA Headquarters to find out more.

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Since the early 1960s, the general public has accepted space travel as almost commonplace.

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Moon missions, shuttle flights, and trips to the International Space Station

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have helped us learn about the challenges of traveling into space.

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But with new exploration missions to Mars and beyond,

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different and possibly even more challenging problems will need to be overcome.

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Just the journey to Mars will require a new way of thinking about space flight.

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New vehicles need to be developed, and the crew's physiological concerns,

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such as radiation exposure, bone loss, and food storage,

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need to be addressed before the mission can be undertaken.

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To help find out more about some of these challenges,

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I spoke with Orlando Figueroa at NASA Headquarters.

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Some of the major challenges in getting crews or human beings to another world

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deal with the environment of space.

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Not only is it very difficult to get them on their way to the new world,

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but the radiation environment that they're going to be exposed to,

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the duration of those flights.

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Other than the moon, most destinations in the solar system are pretty far away,

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so they're going to spend several months in the process.

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They also need to carry a significant amount of resources,

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water, food, to be able to live in space.

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And they're in confined spaces where they need to exercise

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and to keep their body healthy.

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We on Earth have to be able to keep track of their health.

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How are they doing? What happens if they get sick?

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So an enormous number of challenges that we have to overcome

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before we're ready to take that step.

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Orlando, give me an idea of what the proposed spacecraft might look like.

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The proposed spacecraft to take the humans in their journey through space

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are just, as we speak, being designed.

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They're called crew exploration vehicles,

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vehicles designed to be able to carry on board a number of astronauts

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and have all of the equipment necessary, the food and other equipment,

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for them to be able to go on their journey.

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Now, they are in similar in shape, perhaps,

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to some that we observed during the Apollo era.

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They've got a much greater capability

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and new rockets that are being developed to take them into space.

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Once in space, the system they're going to be using for propulsion

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will rely upon chemical, a combination of nuclear energy and or chemical,

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these type of technologies that are being developed, as we speak.

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Using current rocket technology, it would take at least six months to get to Mars.

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In order to cut back on that time,

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NASA researchers are looking at new methods of propulsion

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that would greatly reduce trip duration.

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One of the most promising plans, called Project Prometheus,

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could cut this travel time to about two months.

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A Prometheus spacecraft would use nuclear propulsion

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rather than chemical propulsion to increase speeds to distant worlds.

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The nuclear option would make a crewed Mars mission much easier

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because it would reduce the need to carry so much food, fuel and oxygen.

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Nuclear power would also mean that Martian launch windows would be longer,

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allowing a more flexible choice of launch and return times,

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leading to a crewed landing mission that could last as little as three or four months,

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as opposed to the current projection of about three years.

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Another concern is the crew's exposure to radiation when they're in space.

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So, how will the vehicle protect them from the radiation that's in space?

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Space has a certain level of radiation that can get significantly worse

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if they are exposed to solar emissions.

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You have a solar ejection.

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These are highly charged particles that are traveling incredibly fast through space.

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On Earth, we have the benefit of having a magnificent magnetic field

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that provides great protection against that radiation, those particles.

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In space, you're fully exposed.

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So, clearly, we need to worry about the design of a spacecraft

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and make certain that it provides a certain amount of shielding

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or a combination of materials that can increase the stoppage ability of those particles.

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It cannot be 100% effective, so you also need a way to predict

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when such a coronal mass ejection may come through,

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to give them some adequate warning and perhaps have the astronauts move

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to a safer area in the spacecraft to protect themselves.

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So, it's a combination of systems and prediction and other capabilities

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that would make it much safer.

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Will being in microgravity for long periods of time be detrimental to the astronauts?

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In space, there is no gravity, of course, or very limited gravity.

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So, your bones are not needed for the same purpose or for the same strength

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that we would need them here on Earth.

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Your muscles, you don't need to exert as much pressure or force in order to move around.

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You're not fighting gravity.

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So, therefore, you also tend to lose muscle mass.

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So, obviously, once you get to the destination, you're going to need that.

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Again, not necessarily fits to Mars.

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It's about half of the gravity of Earth, so you wouldn't need as much.

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Nevertheless, you need a certain amount of strength and muscle mass

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to be able to move around and be healthy.

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Part of the challenge is to define techniques, skills, equipment, etc.,

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that allow the astronauts to remain healthy and to protect their bone and muscle mass

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to do the journey and return back to Earth.

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We have to worry about bringing them back when they're done.

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A strong element of the vision for space exploration

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is this combination of humans and machines working together.

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To learn about a new world, normally we begin the process by sending robots

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that explore and understand the environment from a science perspective

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as well as from an engineering and safety perspective.

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Where would humans go to do further scientific research and explore this new world?

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Now, it is a daunting task right now for us to develop all the capabilities that will take us there.

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And because of that, we're taking a stepwise approach.

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We're going first to the Moon where we're going to bring capabilities, develop technologies,

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develop the knowledge necessary for humans to survive in that environment for a long period of time.

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And from there, then start graduating, if you will, to Mars as the next target,

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the next target where we can start proving the scientific theories and explore this new world

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and then move on beyond.

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That's what the vision for space exploration is all about.

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We at NASA are incredibly excited about the opportunities

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that the vision for space exploration are bringing forth.

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Who knows what we may discover? Who knows what we may learn?

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Coming up, we'll find out what some of the challenges will be

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for actually living and working on other worlds.

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But first, did you know that the early days of flight had its share of challenges as well?

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For example, on May 14, 1918, the U.S. Post Office released the first stamps

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commemorating airmail delivery, which were scheduled to begin the next day.

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Unfortunately, the plane pictured on the stamp, the J-4 jetty,

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was mistakenly printed upside down.

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During the inaugural flight, Airman George Boyle had problems from the start,

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eventually crashing his jetty into a Maryland cornfield.

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Scrambling from his plane, he stood, looking at it, lying upside down,

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exactly as the inverted stamps had predicted.