Trip to Mars
TRIP TO MARS – March 11, 2025 – Casa Grande, Arizona, USA
“I’ve just learned we’ve been selected to be the first humans to visit the planet Mars,” Mr. Steinfeld announced to his 3rd grade science class. “This will be a one-day field trip and we’ll leave the school first thing in the morning next week. Get ready for an adventure!”
The class spent the next week learning about Mars and space exploration. They watched movies about landing on the moon and the school nurse came in to give everyone a quick checkup to make sure they were healthy enough for a long spaceship ride.
“Too bad you’re not in Mr. Steinfeld’s class,” Colton bragged to his younger brother and sister. “We’ll all be able to say we’ve been to another planet.”
Colton’s sister, Kenzie, asked, “Why did they choose a bunch of kids to go? I thought it took a long time to get to Mars. How can you do it in one day?”
“Mr. Steinfeld must have some special connections. We’ll probably be using special rockets no one knows about yet.”
On the day of the field trip, Mr. Steinfeld’s class loaded into a yellow school bus. Colton sat in one of the front seats because he wanted a good view of everything. The bus drove for a long time. It drove so far that the paved roads disappeared and turned into dusty gravel roads. Colton saw nothing but dirt and rocks. The bus stopped in front of some short, tan-colored buildings at the end of the road. One of the buildings looked like a rocket tipped over on its side.
Mr. Steinfeld led the class from the bus and into one of the buildings labeled “Mars Exploration Center.” A tall, skinny man wearing an orange jumpsuit greeted them. His glasses and frizzy gray hair made him look like a mad scientist.
“Hello, I’m Dr. Skywalker,” the scientist man said in greeting.
“Is that really your name?” Colton blurted out.
“Yes. Welcome to our launch facility. I hope you’re ready for a long journey. Before we begin, if any of you have to use the restroom, now is the time. Our ship doesn’t have one.”
“Why not?” Colton demanded.
“We wanted to save on space and weight,” Dr. Skywalker patiently replied.
After half the class used the restroom, everyone walked through some flimsy looking hallways and into a long, narrow tube. Colton was sure they had entered the sideways rocket he had seen from the bus. Airplane seats filled the middle of the tube.
“Pick a seat and put on your seatbelt!” Dr. Skywalker called. “We’re only a few minutes from launch!”
Colton hurried to pick a seat at the front of the rocket near where Dr. Skywalker stood. When the entire class was strapped in, Dr. Skywalker moved to a chair in front of a computer screen. With a few taps, the lights on the curved ceiling dimmed.
“Everybody ready?” Dr. Skywalker called. He counted down from 10 to 1 and then pressed more buttons. A loud rocket noise came from somewhere behind Colton. The sound continued for a minute and then grew quiet. Dr. Skywalker got up from his seat.
“We’ve now left the earth’s atmosphere and we’re traveling to Mars at an incredible speed – over one million miles per hour.”
Colton looked around the tube’s interior. There were no windows showing stars and the blackness of space. “How come we can’t see outside?” he asked loudly.
“It’s easier to build a ship without windows,” Dr. Skywalker replied. “Glass can break during launches.”
“Aren’t we supposed to be floating around?” Colton asked. “There’s no gravity in space.”
“You sure ask a lot of questions,” Dr. Skywalker replied with a frustrated voice. “We’re lucky that our ship has a new special kind of artificial gravity.”
The scientist went on to explain some of the secret technology they were using and how Colton’s class was chosen to go to Mars because young people were so important to the future. Colton figured he had given the speech before and wondered if his class was truly the first to go on the Mars trip. With Mr. Steinfeld’s help, Dr. Skywalker passed out lunch, which consisted of tubes of applesauce, yogurt, and orange flavored space drink.
After everyone finished eating, the ship had almost reached Mars. Dr. Skywalker reminded all passengers to make sure their seatbelts were fastened tightly. He returned to his seat and pushed more buttons. The lights turned red and the loud rocket sounds started up. After another minute, everything got quiet again.
“We’re here!” Dr. Skywalker announced. “Who wants to do some exploring?”
The whole class shouted excitedly and Dr. Skywalker demonstrated how to put on an exploration suit over their clothes. After zipping up a white jumpsuit, they put on goggles and breathing tubes that looked like snorkels used for swimming in the ocean. Then everyone put on special headphones so they could hear Dr. Skywalker’s voice.
“What happens if I don’t breathe through the tube?” Colton asked.
“There’s no oxygen out there on Mars, so you have to breathe through the oxygen generating tube if you want to live,” Dr. Skywalker explained without cracking a smile. “And everyone must keep your goggles and suits on. We don’t want your eyes or clothes contaminated with Martian dust. And no talking. Just listen to your radio.”
Dr. Skywalker led the way through a side door in the rocket that was located right above a convenient stairway. The class stepped onto the Martian surface and gathered in a group. Mr. Steinfeld, whose round belly stretched out his white jumpsuit, closed the ship’s door.
Colton looked around. Everything appeared red through his goggles. As far as he could see, there was nothing but red rocks and red dirt.
Dr. Skywalker’s voice filled up the headphones. “Stay close together. It’s too dangerous to wander off. And don’t touch anything. Now imagine a whole planet that looks likes this . . .”
Dr. Skywalker kept talking about Martian rocks and how windy and cold it got. He said there were probably rivers on Mars a long time ago and maybe even some types of life.
Colton tried to pay attention but his curiosity kept building and building like a pot ready to boil. Instead of watching Dr. Skywalker, he kept his eyes on the Mars horizon. He itched to run off on his own and explore what was below the hill just ahead of them.
As Colton stared into the distance, suddenly something out there moved. He decided his eyes were playing tricks on him so he blinked them hard. There was not supposed to be anything moving on Mars except the wind. But there it was again, something solid jumping up and down. And it was not a rock. There was something alive out there! A real Martian!
Colton knew he would be famous for being one of the first to visit Mars, but he would be a lot more famous if he could meet and catch a real Martian. His curiosity won out and he forgot all his space training. He ran toward the jumping figure.
“Come back! Come back!” Colton heard on his radio, but he kept running.
As he got closer to the Martian, it looked more and more like an Earth rabbit. The Martian looked up and seemed to smile. Then he hopped away fast, just like an Earth rabbit would.
When Colton saw the Martian smile, it surprised him so much he tripped over his feet and fell hard to the ground. He watched the Martian dash out of sight and then rolled over to discover he had a rip in his space suit and a cut on his knee.
“Come back, come back here!” Dr. Skywalker kept yelling on the radio.
Colton limped back to the group and pointed at his damaged spacesuit.
“You need to go wait in the ship!” Dr. Skywalker shouted angrily. “That’s what happens when you leave the group.”
Colton trudged back to the spaceship and opened the side door. He walked inside and breathed through his oxygen tube until he figured it was safe to take it out of his mouth. After another fifteen minutes, the rest of the class returned, removed their exploration suits and got in their seats for the ride home.
“I saw a Martian! I saw a Martian!” Colton called to everyone around him.
“Probably just a hallucination,” Dr. Skywalker said dismissively. “That can happen to people when they travel in space.”
The trip back to Earth was a lot like the trip to Mars. The rocket made the same noises and the lights changed the same colors. Dr. Skywalker talked about how beautiful Earth was and how we had to take care of it. He handed out freeze dried ice cream as a treat.
Colton barely paid attention. He was too busy thinking about the Martian and the cut on his knee. He limped to the bus when they arrived on Earth, and after the bus ride to school, he limped home.
“What’s wrong with you?” asked his sister, Kenzie.
“First of all, I’m tired. I flew like a billion miles today. Then when we got to Mars, I saw a real Martian but no one believes me. And I tripped and cut my knee.”
“You really saw a Martian?”
“Yeah. It looked a lot like a rabbit.”
“Did it say anything?”
“Nah. But I think it smiled before it hopped away.”
For the first time, Colton noticed that not only did his knee hurt, but so did his foot. He stopped and took off his shoe. Out poured red dust and rocks.
“Kenzie! Do you know what was in my shoe? These are rocks from Mars. They told us not to touch anything but I accidently brought them back.”
“Are they valuable?”
“Rocks from the moon are worth a million dollars. Rocks from Mars must be worth even more!”
Colton carefully picked up every speck of Martian dust. He took off his sock and put the dust inside for safekeeping until he could find a good hiding place.
“I guess it was a pretty great trip after all,” Colton said with satisfaction. “Now I’m rich with a bunch of Mars rocks and I was the first human to meet a Martian.” His knee suddenly felt a lot better.
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