On Trip to Mars, NASA Must Rethink Death

With all the excitement about new planet discoveries,as well as a future trip to mars,there are some dark questions that still have to be answered.Besides ships and speed,there are these questions to ponder...

(Space.com)-CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) - How do you get rid of the body of a dead astronaut on a three-year mission to Mars and back?
When should the plug be pulled on a critically ill astronaut who is using up precious oxygen and endangering the rest of the crew? Should NASA employ DNA testing to weed out astronauts who might get a disease on a long flight?

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With NASA planning to land on Mars 30 years from now, and with the recent discovery of the most ''Earth-like'' planet ever seen outside the solar system, the space agency has begun to ponder some of the thorny practical and ethical questions posed by deep space exploration.

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Some of these who-gets-thrown-from-the-lifeboat questions are outlined in a NASA document on crew health obtained by The Associated Press through a Freedom of Information Act request.

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NASA doctors and scientists, with help from outside bioethicists and medical experts, hope to answer many of these questions over the next several years.

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I found this to be a really interesting read.It brings the human element to space travel.Theres more to it than spacecraft and speed.

You can't plan for everything, I just say put really smart and psychologically tough individuals on any long mission. Apollo XIII proved that unexpected disasters on space missions can be successfully managed.