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1-Page Summary of Packing For Mars

Introduction

When NASA was preparing to send astronauts on the first manned mission to land on the moon, they had a long list of requirements that they needed to follow in order for it to be safe.

Planting a flag on the moon was one of the most difficult parts of the Apollo 11 mission. The flag had to be lightweight and sturdy, as well as fold up into a small package so it could fit in the lunar rover. In order to ensure that this part of the mission would go off without a hitch, NASA tried out all kinds of different mock assembly exercises before they launched any rockets. Even when Neil Armstrong got there, he couldn’t push down hard enough because the surface was too rocky and hard for his boot to get good traction.

While the flag was standing, it provided a great photo opportunity. However, it fell over as soon as the astronauts left because there were so many problems with putting up the flag in such an inhospitable environment.

Are We There Yet?

Space work can be boring. It’s very routine and there aren’t many major milestones for astronauts to celebrate. Most of the work is diagnostic, maintenance-oriented, and done on Earth. Astronauts spend most of their time in meetings and working with Mission Control because they’re lucky to spend 1% of their careers in space.

Astronauts have to deal with many problems that are not a big deal for us on Earth. For example, they might encounter a broken toilet or delayed lunch while in space. Such small things can cause major issues and even lead to conflicts between crew members. In order to prepare astronauts for such situations, NASA trains them in simulators that mimic life in space and tests their reactions by making them perform the same task twice or delaying lunch. It is important for astronauts who want to go to Mars someday because it will take about 20 minutes for radio signals from Earth reach Mars during which time mission leaders will have only seconds decide what action should be taken if something goes wrong on the spacecraft as well as figuring out how smooth communication needs to be among crew members living inside a tiny spaceship together for years without going outside of it.

There are a few places in the world that subject people to different types of isolation chamber experiments. The purpose is to find out how well people can handle long periods of confinement and other stresses, so they can be better prepared for future space missions. However, it’s hard to tell exactly what happens during these simulations because researchers don’t want the public to know about any problems or conflicts that might arise.

Missions in space have been plagued with problems. Problems like sexual tension, fights, contraband and other indiscretions are part of human nature and cannot be completely eliminated. Similar problems have already been observed on Earth at Antarctic field camps where people live together for long periods of time. People there may not feel comfortable revealing their weaknesses because they want to maintain good morale or out of pride. It can be especially dangerous when crew members are close to their breaking points because these situations bring out what psychologists call “irrational antagonism” which means that people start to get upset about everything since nothing surprises them anymore after being around each other for so long in such tight quarters. In our daily lives we don’t always put ourselves into situations where we have something to offer but in space it’s different since you’re confined with the same group of people all the time and you probably won’t find anything surprising anymore either

Packing For Mars Book Summary, by Mary Roach