For All Mankind: What’s stopping us from going to Mars?

The third series of the sci-fi drama “For All Mankind” posits an alternative timeline in which humans visit Mars in the 1990s.

The show envisions an alternative history where, instead of America landing on the Moon in 1969, the Russians did.

This would have led to a fierce acceleration of the Apollo space programme, with America becoming desperate to catch up to and exceed their Cold War rivals.

• A manned mission to Mars is a challenge for modern NASA.
• One of the big issues is the distance, along with the level of radiation the astronauts have to face.
• Communication between the ship and Earth would be delayed by 10 minutes each way.
• Around a third of everything that has tried to land on Mars has failed.
• Food and supplies would require future planning. Initially, you would need to send your food and rocket fuel for your return journey in advance. Long-term, you could talk about growing things on Mars.