IT'S the moment every wannabe astronaut dreams of: landing on Mars. Just imagine making that momentous speech as you plant your flag in the red soil, the sun rising behind you over Olympus Mons. Perhaps you'll find fame as the discoverer of the first subtle signs of alien life. How breathtaking to see the Earth rise in the night sky, just a white dot among millions of others.
But there is a flip side. By the time you make that speech, you will have been cooped up inside a metal box for six months. You'll not talk to your friends or family for another two years. You and your fellow inmates are bound to have survived some hair-raising, potentially fatal crises, and everyone's nerves will be in tatters. The pilot won't talk to the engineer. And if that geologist looks at you and rolls his eyes one more time, you'll ...
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