From the moon to Mars
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The legacy of Apollo
KEY QUOTE: "In fact, it requires far less energy to send rocket fuel from the Moon to Mars than it does to get it from the Earth's surface into Earth orbit."
The way to Mars is via the moon. If we ever expect to step foot on Mars we must fully develop our capacity to reside long term in low earth orbit and on the moon. This is the only way to effectively and safely test the technology needed to sustain a crew for the two-year trip to Mars and back. The sooner we figure this out and get started, the sooner we will get to Mars.