17-year-old girl might be first person to land on Mars
Space Agency NASA had been planning to send human beings to Mars after a decade or so and looks like they just found their first candidate - a 17-year-old girl.
NASA has aimed to send the first human to Mars in 2033 and this might be 17-year-old Alyssa Carson, a astronaut trainee who has already started training.
Alyssa explained that since her childhood, she had dreamt of going to space specially after watching the cartoon ‘The Backyardigans’. After all these years, her dream has finally turned to reality as she will be among the first people to get to Mars, at the ideal age of 32.
Selected as one of the seven ambassadors for Mars One – NASA’s mission to create the first human settlement on Mars – Alyssa will be NASA’s youngest to go to Mars. Though she can officially apply for NASA after she’s 18, she has already gone through various training sessions, reported Malaysian Digest.
Some of the programs she has completed include attending robotics academy, space academy and space camp. She has even built her own rockets, witnessed three space shuttle launches, and also delivered motivational speeches.
She has completed all three NASA Space Camps in US, Turkey and Canada, along with being the first and only one to complete NASA Passport Program by visiting all of 14 NASA’s visitor centers in the US. Alyssa told Teen Vogue that she even has an official call sign ‘Blueberry’, used by mission control.
Moreover, as per Alyssa, chasing her dream wasn’t easy. She has sacrificed a lot including her previous relationships. “The idea of having a family is something NASA would want you to consider once you come back from Mars. It’s a place we’ve never been to, and it’s a dangerous mission. Having someone you love on earth, that’s a distraction.”
The Mars mission is expected to launch in 2033. As per the current tech, it will be a six-month journey to Mars with a year stay, and another nine-month to come back to Earth.
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