Popular Mechanics - USA (2019-04)

62 April 2019 _ PopularMechanics.com ILLUSTRATION BY MARK SMITH

THE TOURIST’S GUIDE TO SPACE

PLAN

YOUR TRIP

There are no short trips to space—only long, longer, or forever.

And odds are, you’ll only go once. These trips will make the most

of whatever amount of time you have. By Bobak Ferdowsi

EARTH

MARS

THE

GETAWAY

MOON

Apollo

11 site

Mare

Orientale

JUPITER

CERES

Asteroid

belt

Valles

Marineris

Olympus

Mons

THE

SABBATICAL

THE

RETIREMENT

ATACAMA DESERT, CHILE

In preparation for the launch of the

Viking mission in the 1970s, NASA

scientists went to the Atacama, an

exceedingly dry locale, to test some of

the probes’ instrumentation.

MANICOUAGAN CRATER, QUEBEC

The impact of a three-mile-wide

asteroid 215 million years ago

formed a series of rings, evidenced

today by an annular lake surrounding

the impact site.

BEFORE YOU GO,

SEE SPACE ON

EARTH...

AS OF 2019, there’s still a lot of time and money
between you and a trip off the planet. Luckily,
there are many places on Earth that scientists
look to for clues about space—and you can reach
most of them, if you’re interested. —B.F.

IO