Mission to Mars: A True Story

A graphic story chronicling NASA's various attempts to explore the red planet.

By Erica Naone

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•	Download a PDF of the story.
•	Be creative: a black and white PDF for you to color.

August 21, 1993
The Mars Observer is three days away from entering Mars orbit. Based on commerical Earth-orbiting comminications satellite, the Observer is the first craft to visit Mars since the Vikings in the 1970s. Its $813 million mission is to unlock the secrets of the red planet's surface, its magnetic and gravitational fields, and its climate. Continue reading the story by clicking start in the flash player developed by Alastair Halliday below.

-- Flash Movie. Do not edit.--

Credit: Alastair Halliday

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Comments

	First mission since 1970s? billg.radix.net on 11/01/2007 at 12:49 PM
Posts: 3	Hello, I was surprised to learn that this mission to Mars is the first since the Viking landers in the '70s. I was under the impression (mistaken?) that we have a pair of motorized skateboards that are roaming Mars and looking at rocks, up close! I am also aware of images that were attributed to a Mars orbiter, including the (in)famous "face" on Mars... I think we need an Olde Grouche to look over the product for major bloopers... Rate this comment: (Reply)

	Re: First mission since 1970s? Spacedad2 on 11/01/2007 at 1:45 PM
Posts: 1	billg: If you will read it more carefully, you will notice a large label saying the action starts in 1993... Rate this comment: (Reply)

	Re: First mission since 1970s? Erica Naone on 11/01/2007 at 5:11 PM		TR Staff Assistant Editor
Posts: 24 Avg Rating:	Thank you for clarifying, Spacedad. billg, if you go to chapter 11, you'll see the "skateboards" you mentioned. I think perhaps some of the source of confusion has to do with how the page is laid out -- I'll see if I can do anything to clarify this. - Erica Naone Rate this comment: (Reply)

	Women! tlauriau on 11/01/2007 at 1:14 PM
Posts: 2	I just watched this whole thing and did not see any women? Were there any? Rate this comment: (Reply)

	Re: Women! Erica Naone on 11/01/2007 at 5:32 PM		TR Staff Assistant Editor
Posts: 24 Avg Rating:	There were definitely women who worked on the projects -- Leslie Tamppari, from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, is project scientist for Phoenix, for example. The absence of women in the comic is accidental -- I didn't happen to interview any women for the story, and didn't make any women major characters as a result. On the other hand, while I chose interview subjects who met my criteria without regard to gender, I think my odds of choosing a woman were lower: there were more men working on the projects, and I focused my interviewing on people who had worked on multiple missions to Mars, further lowering the odds that I would choose a woman (since I suspect fewer women worked on the older Mars projects than have worked on the current projects). - Erica Naone Rate this comment: (Reply)

	Science like fiction? owennmtz on 12/03/2007 at 7:30 PM
Posts: 2	Thanks for writing and drawing this very interesting story of super science and super cartoons! Keep up the good work. Rate this comment: (Reply)

	Re: Science like fiction? Erica Naone on 12/28/2007 at 11:07 AM		TR Staff Assistant Editor
Posts: 24 Avg Rating:	Thanks for the comment! There's a possibility that we will do another project like this in the near future, but I can't say much about it yet. -- Erica Naone Rate this comment: (Reply)

	Baker's dozen? Elroch on 12/17/2007 at 4:08 AM
Posts: 28 Avg Rating:	I hope the fact that this excellent presentation has 13 chapters is not a concern to anyone who is superstitious. Rate this comment: (Reply)