Forgot your password?  Mars Space Science  Why Mars Is Not the
Limit For Human Space Flight 256  Posted by Soulskill from the
it-doesn't-even-have-a-denny's dept. "Mars is not just the next
or most accessible human destination, it is the ultimate one,"
writes Louis Friedman, executive director emeritus of The
Planetary Society. He says the concept of manned spaceflight is
progressing so slowly, and robotic developments so swiftly, that
Mars will be the first and last planet humans set foot on. "By
the time human spaceflight technology is theoretically capable
of journeys beyond Mars, humans in modern space systems will be
virtual explorers interacting with the environments of distant
worlds, but without the baggage of physical transportation or
presence." Mark Whittington disagrees, saying Friedman is
demonstrating Clarke's First Law, and that the history of human
exploration is rife with periods of stagnation interrupted by
technological achievement that led to swift progress.  Why Mars
Is Not the Limit For