British spacewoman who aims to walk on Mars reveals the one major challenge nobody thinks of
A British female astronaut headed on a mission into Space and hoping to one day walk on Mars has revealed a surprising challenge.
33-year-old Rosemary Coogan is one of the country's latest recruits for space missions, but she boasts an impressive CV that will see her do well when she travels away from Earth.
The female astronaut was selected in 2022 from over 22,000 applicants and went through a lengthy 18-month process to ensure she was medically and mentally fit before she could start basic training.
Basic training last 12 months, with Rosemary officially qualifying as an astronaut for the European Space Agency in April.
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Her first mission will be to the International Space Station, but she's keen to also be one of the first humans on Mars.
Yet, one of the biggest challenges isn't necessarily about how to get to the red planet or how to land on it safely, but something else entirely.
Space missions to the moon have typically taken around three days, but a human mission to Mars is expected to take three years - and with that comes a lot of difficulties.
One of the biggest challenges facing the team, those on the journey and those supporting them back on Earth, will be including enough food and water as well as medical equipment and being able to handle any potential medical emergencies.
She explained in an interview with The Times: "We already have rovers going to Mars, which is already incredible, but somebody setting foot on Mars, that must be how people felt about getting to the Moon in the 60s, it's a brand new frontier and that is something else.
"I think the goal at the moment is the 2040s or so for humans getting to Mars, and I would definitely be up for that.
"Obviously there are the practical challenges of achieving a nice soft landing, that's not easy to do, but keeping astronauts physically and psychologically healthy for that period of time in a capsule is a really significant challenge which perhaps isn't the first thought when people are thinking about launches."
Keeping astronauts healthy on their journey will be one of the toughest challenges for NASA and for those involved, but it's not something Rosemary is shying away from. Her first mission is expected to take six months, which she's eager to get stuck into.
She added: "We know that our first mission will be a long duration, six-month mission for the International Space Station.
"But you know, Europe is going to the Moon, we do now have three seats on the Artemis mission secure for European astronauts. But beyond that. There's a huge number of possibilities that are unknown and extremely exciting."
Niamh Spence