First Person on Mars, and She’s 17 Years Old

NASA is competing with SpaceX, the aerospace company which was founded by Elon Musk. Both are vying to be the first to place a human being on the planet. While SpaceX hopes to do this by 2024, NASA plans to wait until 2033.

She was watching a children’s TV show called The Backyardigans. In that show, the characters visit Mars. Alyssa turned to her father and announced that she wanted to go to Mars. He smiled and said, “OK,” but little did he know how determined she was.

The students experience life across different countries and cultures, as well as across other disciplines. There is a multilingual immersion program that focuses on teaching children emerging technology. The school’s goal is to prepare the children to be tomorrow’s leaders.

Yet, she never lost sight of her main goal in life – the mission to Mars.  She knew what she wanted, and how to get there and was determined to see it through. In fact, by the age of 12, she had already met with the director of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center and was on a panel discussion to discuss future Mars missions.

The rover is being designed to maneuver the Mars surface and take samples, sending information back to labs on Earth. It will be one of the most critical pieces of equipment involved in preparing for the Mars mission.

Space Camp prepares young children and teens for what they will encounter in space training. The camps are fully equipped with the tools and machinery needed to give kids a real-life experience with space travel.

When she meets grade-school children interested in space, she encourages them to take their dreams seriously. She also encourages parents to let their children pursue whatever “crazy” dreams they have.

Alyssa wanted to visit each site, including the Houston Space Center, the Houston Space Center, the US Space, and Rocket Center in Alabama, and many others, to learn about the work of each location.

She is the youngest student to graduate from the program. Graduation from PoSSUM is mandatory; you can enter NASA training if you have that diploma. The program is intensive and all-inclusive for the students, who learn about the many aspects of space flight.

“When I talk to other kids my age, I hope they realize they don’t have to wait until college to start figuring out what they want to be or start pursuing their dream,” she says.  “If you’re interested in something and passionate about it, you can start working towards it.” 

She realizes that some of her life goals will be put on hold while she follows her dream of going to Mars. But she also recognizes that life requires prioritizing and feels that her path is going precisely in the right direction.

She is excited about the upcoming training challenges. Everything she does for the next decade will be devoted to preparation for the Mars space launch and landing.

In 2022, Alyssa was selected as one of only five Influencers/Ambassadors in the world (only one in the US) to work with NATO. Alyssa is a member of The Explorers Club as the youngest full member accepted. 

The day she started at the Academy, she tweeted that it was the 45th anniversary of man landing on the moon. She felt that was especially meaningful for her, as she was planning to be one of the first to land on Mars very soon.

She learned how to escape from a car trapped underwater and how to swim wearing a heavy space suit. Even though she is in top physical shape, she found that the difficulty in meeting that challenge was incredibly brutal.

This still is taken from a video on her LinkedIn page. She writes, “The video is one of my favorite jumps where I did a front flip exit and some barrel rolls. I can’t thank my instructors enough they were amazing!”

Eventually, they combine their original field with the dream of space flight, and apply to become an astronaut. So after your years of training for your original profession, you begin a whole new regimen of training and education to apply what you already know to become an astronaut.

Mars is the goal for this generation. She hopes that after the current generation, further colonization will include a moon of Jupiter. As we continue learning more about the solar system, she says, we will find more habitable planets to travel to and in which to live.

Alyssa was featured In the movie, where she says, “It will be so amazing  to see the Martian surface with my own eyes.” One of the program managers states, “We have a whole generation of kids who want to go to Mars.”

She speaks to STEM teachers as well as students, advising them about including STEM in their curricula in order to direct the next generation toward technology studies. For students interested in STEM topics, she is a true role model.

In “Ready for Liftoff: Becoming an Astronaut of the Mars Generation,” she discusses her personal journey toward her dream of landing on Mars. She focuses on both her strenuous physical efforts, the importance of having mentors, and support from her father.  

As a role model for young women, Alyssa embodies all of the characteristics of a future scientist – the natural curiosity, the drive to learn, and the passion to achieve her goals. She has over 500,000 followers on Instagram and 26,000 on Twitter.