1950s Mars spacecraft design,computer artwork. This is the cargo ship and glider designed by the German-US rocket engineer Wernher von Braun (1912- 1977),as part of his proposal for a manned mission to Mars (lower left). These proposals were published in 1952,and are still considered valid today. Three cargo ships and seven passenger ships would be assembled in Earth orbit. After a 260-day voyage,50 people from the mission crew of 70 would use the three cargo ship gliders (wingspan: 153 metres) to land on the surface for 400 days of exploration. The central section of each glider would be used as a rocket to ascend to the seven passenger ships in Mars orbit,to be used for the journey home. The proposal was published in a set of articles,books (Across the Space Frontier,1953; The Mars Project,1963),and television programs |