stamp bulletin - Australia Post Shop

Is the fantasy plausible?
Yes, according to Australian born astronaut
Andy Thomas. “The habitation depicted on the
stamps is a realistic scenario to contemplate.
Initially trips to Mars will be small groups of
people forming small habitations. But as we
learn more about Mars and living there, we will
eventually start formal colonisation.
“It will take some years, of course, before we
get to that point, perhaps 50 years, but I think
it’s very real and it will happen. I think the
infrastructure that is depicted in the artwork is
representative of what we may expect to see”,
Thomas said.
Of course the future of any space missions
require interest from future generations and based
on Thomas’ own experience, that too is likely.
“Young people are enormously impressed
and excited by the idea of space flight, going
into orbit and beyond. In fact, I think young
people are perhaps more excited than some of
the older generation who’ve lived through the
advances of the past 50 years and sometimes
take it all for granted.
“Young people still see the novelty and
excitement of it and when I talk with them, I
can see their eyes light up. They are captivated
when I talk about some of the experiences I’ve
had in space”, he said.
8
YOU ARE HERE
Dr Andrew Thomas, Astronaut
Dr Andrew S. W. Thomas’ (he prefers
‘Andy’) first space mission was in 1996, as
Payload Commander for a space shuttle
Endeavour mission. In 1998 he flew on the
Endeavour mission that docked with the Mir
Space Station. Thomas transferred to Mir,
where he served as Flight Engineer 2 for 130
days. He returned to earth in Endeavour on 12
June 1998, having spent a total of 141 days in
space. At the time of publication he is in
training for another shuttle mission scheduled
for the year 2001.
In an interview at NASA headquarters in
Houston, Texas he told Philatelic Product
Manager, Jane Standish, that although he
doesn’t expect to travel to Mars himself, he
expects to see it happen in his lifetime. And he
imagines the crew members for that first
mission to Mars have already been born.