Picking up where NASA's research left off, Discovery Channel examines the feasibility of making this epic journey, Using a hand-picked crew of men and women, Discovery Channel's production unit creates a simulated Mars Mission, from the rigorous physical training, through launch, through the dangers of interplanetary travel, to the tricky landing on the Martian surface.
Discovery Channel crews were granted extensive access by NASA to mission control, spaceship simulators and space station prototypes. The result is the most realistic depiction possible of a human mission to Mars, short of actually blasting off on a rocket. Astronauts appearing in the program are Buzz Aldren, Gene Cernan, Tom Jones, Story Musgrove, and Norman Thagard.