This artist’s concept from 1962 show a three hundred-sixty ton spaceship, powered by a forty-megawatt nuclear-electric power plant, transporting a three-man crew to Mars. As envisioned by Marshall Space Flight Center engineers, a five-ship convoy would make the round trip journey in about five hundred days.
Image credit: NASA MSFC
Image source: NASA Images
Image credit: NASA
Image source: National Archives
Electrostatic ion-powered five-man spacecraft passing over Mars’ moon Phobos on the way to Mars. One of two “scout cars” will land on the tiny moon and rendezvous with the ship later.
Mars: Planet for Conquest
by Erik Bergaust
G.P Putnam’s Sons, 1967
Rocketdyne
Image source: Numbers Station
Image credit: Convair
Image source: SDASM Archives
