Houston, we have a podcast.

Welcome to the official podcast of the NASA Johnson Space Center,

episode 147 Concepts Near Science Fiction.

I'm Gary Jordan and I'll be your host today.

On this podcast, we bring in the experts,

scientists, engineers, astronauts, all to let you know what's going on in the world of

human spaceflight. So back on episode 142, we chat it with Michelle

Rucker about what it takes to prepare for a Mars mission.

Michelle was super engaging and very thorough about the different elements to consider when thinking

about how to be ready for Mars. I got really excited about the topic

and Michelle and I got to talking after the recording. We thought, what if we dedicated time to each

element of a Mars mission.

rendezvous with Mars, entry descent and landing on Mars,

eating, living, exploring.

What if we dove deep into the challenges

of each of these parts of a Mars mission? Well, thanks to Michelle and the Mars Integration Group here at

NASA, we're going to make that happen. This year stay tuned for more episodes that

dive deep into the challenges of a Mars mission and the requirements to make that successful.

So on today's podcast, we bring in Jason Durlith, Program Executive for NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts

Program at NASA's Headquarters in Washington.

To help set the expectations for what's to come,

Jason dives deep into how many of us think of a future exploration mission

...