“100 miles above mars surface, suborbital trajectory,
first manned mission to mars”

The sound of the decoupler is one of the most sickening things that
you could possibly hear and feel. You could hear little explosions in the
background and feel the force of them against your body. The Soyuz
Capsule relied off of explosive bolts to separate the capsule so that reentry
was safe. You think that you're coming home and at the same time you
know you're not going home to the blue planet you call home. You’ll
never see you kids, your wife, or even the little old lady at the front desk
who brings you your coffee every day.

Both sides of the capsules are gone. I can only see one of them
come into view. You see a giant red orb looking upon you with crater
after crater rims and red canyons that you might find in a bad dream. The
sight of the two frozen poles of the planet of war and I think it’s going
to be cold, it's going to be hard to survive. Why the hell did I sign up for
this? I'm not going to see my baby boy or my wife ever again. I'm going to
betray her eventually with one of the six women on this mission.
Why? That seems to be something I ask myself a lot now, I guess. One of
the many of these “Why did I?” questions is, why did I join this program?
That’s when I think of the moon landing the first time I ever saw it is in
the first grade in a dark lit class with and old school projector that only
relied off of tape, and looking at the ghostly white figures in suits that
looked rather unpleasant to wear on their backs are squared shape looking
backpacks that only managed to supply them with one third of an
atmosphere.

Now were through the top of the atmosphere holding on tight
the hand of the women next to me to the point that it hurts her hand she
looks at me with tears coming down from her eyes not because of the pain
my iron grasp, but because of the fact that we were going to be the first
people on mars you could only imagine the horror that I thought while
coming down into the craters of the red planet. Why, why, why, did I say
yes to do this I feel like an idiot. Why did I decide to do this? I'm going to
die I'm not going to see my kid, never kiss my wife again so why did i
decided to do all of this? Maybe it was that I wanted to bring peace on
earth. But how was this to bring peace to us, a group of Homo sapiens
who always seem to be fighting. A race that makes constructions that are
so big that they can be seen from space and weapons that can wipe out
those structures. Why would someone like me change the world just by
stepping on the surface of another?
 

After all, this is sad to say but this whole thing seems to be a
publicity stunt just like the moon landings were to prove who was the
better nation with the most technological superiority. Halfway mark.
There’s enough air to cause drag to the Soyuz capsule. 20 seconds later
fire forms from this capsule penetrating the atmosphere at high speeds.
The Soyuz is landing next to the ice caps. 7 more minutes till we're out of
the reentry. The crew mates are panicking, scared that if the computer
makes one mistake their lives that will be over. 7 minutes of terror where
you can’t communicate with anyone; you’re in communication blackout.
I’ve been immune to it for a long time, i'm not sure how but it doesn't phase me as things to come do.

I've been to the ISS three times it never got old looking at the earth
while floating around the station. The thing that inspired me to continue
being an astronaut was Chris Hadfield when I was 10. My only thoughts
were reading and paying attention in school so that I could make money in
the future. Then I saw a video of this man with a rather odd mustache
moving around in space where he started playing guitar and singing a song
by David Bowie. That’s when I realized I wanted to be an astronaut I
wanted to be like Chris Hadfield.

The parachute knocks all our heads with a thump back by the force
of its opening. Only one more minute to go and then another thump.
We’re here on the red planet. No one here questions who is going to step
out onto the surface of mars. I unbuckle and climb over clumsily over all
the other astronauts, then I twist the metal handle to open the hatch. With
my space suit on I walk down and say one line that everyone will over
examine. As I step onto the red planet I think why do we explore? Is it to
settle our never ending curiosity or is it to become the most powerful
among our brethren?”, Looking up to the sky I see one pale blue dot that
looks almost no different from the thousands of stars and think about what
will become of it.