To the Best of Our Knowledge: This Martian Life (Repeat‪)‬

Sending humans to Mars used to seem like an impossible dream. But with the discovery of flowing water on Mars and the blockbuster movie The Martian, even NASA is talking about a human mission to Mars. So why do people want to go to the Red Planet?

We hear from a Mars One finalist and from the commander of one of NASA's Mars simulations; for eight months she lived in a dome on the side of a volcano. Also, two science fiction heavyweights: Andy Weir describes the improbable origins of his blockbuster novel The Martian, and Kim Stanley Robinson wonders what it would be like to travel to the nearest habitable star system 12 light years away. His answer? Like being trapped in a Motel 6. [Original Broadcast Date: October 4, 2015]