Updated July 13th, 2020 at 20:14 IST

Who is Alyssa Carson? Learn about a 19-yr-old aspiring astronaut prepping for Mars Mission

19-year-old aspiring astronaut Alyssa Carson is the only person to attend all NASA Space Camps & she is already preparing herself for the NASA's Mars Mission

Reported by: Disha Kandpal
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Alyssa Carson’s first-ever Space camp was at the age of 5 and today the 19-year-old is the only person who has attended every NASA space. Carson graduated from the Advanced Space Academy Programme, at the age of 16 making her the youngest person to graduate from the program. Today, the 19-year-old is a part of a group of young aspiring astronauts who are working to position themselves for becoming the first humans to land on Mars.

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Alyssa Carson and other young Aspiring NASA astronauts

Alyssa Carson is a part of what has now become a community of young and driven people, who are preparing themselves to become a part of NASA’s next phase of space exploration. The aspiring astronauts like Alyssa Carson are attending advanced space programs, while also building social media personas to come under NASA’s radar. And it’s no surprise that their eyes are set on NASA’s Mars mission.

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This young group of space lovers are using social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter and even TikTok to talk about and hold a discussion on the latest developments in space. They are using these platforms to broadcast their interest to a wider audience. Alyssa Carson revealed in an interview given to a media portal that, these young aspiring astronauts try to simplify space and other related sciences for their audience.

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Alyssa Carson on Mars Mission

In the interview, Carson also revealed that it was her dream to go to Mars since she was 3 years old when she watched an episode of ‘The Backyardigans’ which talked about astronauts going to Mars. At the age of 12, Alyssa Carson was invited by NASA to talk about her interest in Mars. The 19-year-old is currently focusing on her education while still dreaming about her space travels. 

As per the reports of a media portal, she is studying astrobiology in Florida Institute of Technology. Currently, NASA aims to send humans on Mars in 2030s, but the preliminary steps towards the journey have already begun with Mars Perseverance rover taking off for its journey towards the red planet in August 2020. Once it is able to land on Mars safely, the robotic rover will be searching for a sign of life on the red planet. The information gathered by the Mars Perseverance Rover will be the stepping stone for all further missions to the red planet.

In an interview given to a media portal, Alyssa Carson called herself “Science Geek” and referred to her friends as part of “Mars Generation”. She also claimed that for millennials Mars has become the new Moon. The Apollo 11 Mission was undertaken because Moon was an object of curiosity among people. Carson believes that if people are curious about Mars as well, it will help speed up the process of exploration of the red planet.

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Alyssa Carson is looking up to Female astronauts

Carson revealed in the interview that she looks unto female astronauts. The 19-year-old aspiring astronaut has also met Sandra Magnus the 55-year-old American Astronaut and engineer. Alyssa Carson stated that she is currently hoping to pursue her PhD in Astrobiology. The aspiring astronaut also stated that she is ready to apply the next time NASA calls for astronaut applications.

 

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Published July 13th, 2020 at 20:14 IST