Mars, A Cosmic Stepping Stone

Humans have had a fascination with Mars for thousands of years. Even when we knew the planets only as wanderers in the sky, Mars stood out. It was prominent and distinctively, brilliantly. As the years passed, it became even more familiar. We gazed at its surface through telescopes and found dried riverbeds and deep canyons. We discovered that Mars' year is twice as long as ours is.