Departing NASA administrator Mike Griffin often underlined how much we still must learn before sending humans explorers to Mars by equating such a mission to a marathon submarine voyage. Until we can slam closed the sub's hatches, dive beneath the waves, and safely cruise the oceans for three years without surfacing for repairs or resupply - the equivalent of a full-up Mars round trip-we are not skilled enough, smart enough, or experienced enough to go.The article suggests the use of the International Space Station (ISS) to gain the knowledge to complete such a mission, but I think we can add a submarine mission in addition to research in space.
This quote also shows how inexperienced we are, we can not survive on some areas our planet, our home. That's like not being about to walk down to your basement in your own home, how could you expect to walk to a neighbor's house? We need to master all environments of the Earth before moving the space. This submarine mission could be an economical way to gain that experience.
