Space population returns to 6 after Shenzhou 10 lands safely.

Yesterday, June 25, Shenzhou 10 returned it's crew of three taikonauts to Earth safely, lowering space's human population back to 6, from 9.

This mission was a success according to the PRC (People's Republic of China) government, and during it the three taikonauts spent  15 days in orbit, conducting experiments within the Chinese space station Tiangong 1, and practising various docking procedures with it.

The mission was the longest ever flown by the Chinese space program, and was the second of two planed missions to Tiangong 1.

Tiangong 1 is not a large or longterm space station, indeed, it's weight, at 18,000 lbs, is less than half of that of the first Salyut station put into orbit by the USSR. Instead, it is a testing ground for the technologies that will be needed for future planned space stations.

Tiangong 2 was planned to launch in 2013, though recent estimates place it closer to 2015, and it will weigh 44,000 lbs, this will be followed by Tiangong 3, originally planned for 2015, and then by the Chinese modular space station, which has been floated with a 2020 launch date.

The Next Generation: Andrew Rader

On June 15, I had the pleasure of attending a talk by Andrew Rader at the Canadian Aviation and Space Museum in Ottawa. Andrew spoke eloquently about the reasons for space colonization, and about the challenges we will face on this path. Andrew is no idle dreamer in this field either. The Ottawa native is willing to lead from the front, he's an applicant for the Mars One Project which seeks to land a first wave of colonists on the Red Planet by 2023.

And Andrew is well qualified, after graduating from MIT with a PhD in Aerospace and Astrospace Engineering he worked as a spacecraft systems engineer. He's currently also applying for the Axe Apollo Space Academy, a promotion that will see the successful candidates launched into suborbital space aboard XCOR's reusable rocket plane. Finally, he's no stranger to the spotlight he'll be put under if selected as a Martian colonist, he's previously competed on a reality TV game show, Canada's Greatest Know It All, where he came out victorious.

For now though, Andrew is here on Earth with the rest of us, but he's working hard to make Martian colonization a reality. In his talk he laid out the reasons behind choosing Mars as our species next home, hi-lighting the planet's surface area, (as much as the land surface of Earth) the presence of water, the 24.6 hour long days and the atmosphere, only 1% of Earth's but made up of useful carbon-dioxide.

He then went on to talk about mission architecture, comparing the differences between the Apollo missions and what is planned for the Mars One Project, the comparative force required and the differences in payload. On point I found particularly interesting was his discussion of the one way nature of the proposed trip, if the purpose of a mission to Mars is to learn how to live there, a return trip would not only be the most dangerous part of the mission, it would also be counter productive.

Andrew acknowledges the risks of course, radiation alone will likely result in a 3% increase in the rates of cancer for the colonists traveling in the early ships until we develop better shielding, but he's willing to accept them, as I think are most of the people involved in the colonization dream.

Andrew Rader doesn't think the odds of Mars One being successful on its 2023 timetable are that good, he gives them 5%, but like me, he thinks that the potential rewards are so great that supporting the project is well worth it.

You can follow Andrew at @Rader_Andrew, vote for him to fly to space with Axe and XCOR here, see his application for Mars One here or like him on Facebook here.