NASA Plans To Send Astronauts To Mars In Mid-2030s - Administrator

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine has said that a manned mission to Mars could be carried out as soon as the mid-2030s

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 19th February, 2019) NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine has said that a manned mission to Mars could be carried out as soon as the mid-2030s.

"We are looking to target the mid-2030s. There is a lot to be done between now and then," Bridenstine told the MSNBC broadcaster in an interview on Monday.

Bridenstine also stressed that it was necessary to test relevant technologies on the Moon before sending humans to explore Mars.

"What we are doing is that we are going to the Moon under Presidential Policy Directive 1 ... We are not going to leave flags and footprints and not go back for another 50 years, but we are going to take international partners, commercial partners.

We are going to go sustainably with humans. Ultimately, we are going to retire risk capability and as much as possible develop technologies that can be reusable at Mars," Bridenstine said.

Last week, NASA announced the end of the mission of the US Opportunity rover, which reached the Red Planet in 2004 and suspended data gathering in June following one of the largest dust storms ever seen on Mars. NASA engineers had to assume the rover went into low power mode after it failed to send a signal back to Earth.