Hey, if you love the deep conversations about engineering, science, and space exploration, you get every week from Houston. We have a podcast. Well, there's another official NASA podcast you should check out, NASA's Curious Universe. Each episode of Curious Universe brings you stories only NASA can tell. Hear from scientists looking for signs of life beyond Earth.

Find out what it's like to fall into a black hole.

And tag along with NASA experts paving the way for astronauts to return to the moon

and eventually set foot on Mars.

Whether you're a total space nerd or a first-time space explorer,

there is a curious universe episode for you.

Three, two, one.

We have ignition and we have nips off.

Check out NASA's Curious Universe wherever you're listening to this podcast, or at nassah.gov slash curious universe.

Houston, we have a podcast. Welcome to the official podcast of the NASA Johnson Space Center,

Episode 391, Mars is hard. Here's why. I'm Dane Turner and I'm here to introduce the podcast this week. On this podcast, we bring in the experts, scientists, engineers, and astronauts also let you know what's going on in the world of human spaceflight and more. NASA is setting its sights on the red planet and setting a course to land the first humans on its surface. The Artemis campaign is paving the way for us to go back to the moon and then

onto Mars. But going to Mars presents its own set of challenges. That's why this week,

we're looking back at a classic interview, originally released as episode 53, where Gary Jordan

spoke to Dr. Stan Love in 2018. Stan is a NASA astronaut who flew to the International

Space Station in 2008 on STS 122, the space shuttle mission that delivered and installed the

European Space Agency's Columbus Laboratory module. He's currently assigned as the Capcom

during launch for the Artemis II mission, so it will be his voice speaking with

the crew as they make their way toward the moon. Stan has worked in a number of flight analog

programs on land and underwater, programs that are figuring out the nuts and bolts of how to

make deep space missions work as planned, so he knows firsthand just how difficult putting people in alien environments can be.

Here's Gary Jordan talking with Stan Love about why sending humans to Mars will be really hard.

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