The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is already making the necessary preparations for the planned manned expedition to planet Mars less than 20 years from now but who will make it as the first human to walk on the Red Planet?
13-year-old Alyssa Carson hopes to be the first person to see and explore Mars in person. She may be young but just like NASA, she has been spending years making preparations for the epic journey and by 2033, which is about the time that the U.S. space agency will send the first batch of human explorers to Mars, the 7th grader from Baton Rouge, Louisiana would be old and likely prepared enough for the mission.
Great athletes train at a young age and for Carson, who dreams of following the footsteps of legends Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, training also starts at an early age. The youngster claimed to have been preparing for space travel for nearly a decade, which means that she started making the preparations since she decided to become an astronaut when was 3-years old.
Carson has already made it as the first person to complete all three of NASA's world space camps, which gives budding astronauts like her the opportunity to ride space flight simulators and experience zero gravity experienced by astronauts in space. The five-day camps also test the physical abilities of the participants. She has also made it as the first person to complete the NASA Passport Program, which involves visiting all of the U.S. space agency's 14 Visitor's Centers in the U.S.
"I would love to go to Mars because it is a planet that no one has been before," Carson wrote on her website NASA blueberry, where she writes the preparations she makes to become the first human to land on planet Mars. "It's about the same size as the Earth and there are ice caps at the top and bottom of Mars. That means there is water on Mars. This could possibly be our next Earth."
Even NASA officials think that Carson has a good chance of making it to the Red Planet.
"She is of the perfect age to one day become an astronaut and eventually travel to Mars," said NASA's Paul Foreman. "She is doing the right thing, she is doing the right training, taking all the right steps to actually become an astronaut."
