One year later we had built a massive gun. We fire brave volunteers on a one way suicide mission to Mars.

The distance is immense. The journey was to take six months.

The missle has small rockets so they can correct their course and evade any dangers along the way. But tragically, those guidance rockets are never used.

Everything about the project is either untested, or else tested in a hurry. The air recycling, which has only been tested for two months, fails after three. The crew dies in their sleep, long before the projectile reached the planet. And missed.

But they have not died in vain. They have showed that we will not give up! We will not just sit and wait for the Martians to invade!

Should we start work on a test flight to the moon, so next time we know what might go wrong? Or think about it some more, to see if it's even possible? Or do something else?