LIFE ON ‘MARS'
YOU South Africa|24 March 2022
It’s hard to imagine anyone would volunteer to live with five strangers in a tin can in the desert. Yet each year hundreds of people from around the world apply for the chance to go to the remote wilderness of Utah and simulate the colonisation of Mars
J OLIVER CONROY
LIFE ON ‘MARS'

THE Mars weather is beautiful today and an astronaut is about to suffocate to death under the cloudless blue sky.

The trouble starts after three crew members leave the safety of the Hab, their pressurised six-person living station, and venture outside to do some routine work. They trudge along in 16kg spacesuits, breathing air pumped by fan and watching the jagged, red landscape through their fishbowl-like glass helmets.

As they head back to the station one astronaut, Aga Pokrywka, begins acting strangely. Her movements are sluggish. She stops walking.

The radio crackles. “Aga, are you all right?” asks the crew’s commander, Sionade Robinson. The Hab is only a few dozen metres away, but Aga can’t seem to go further. She collapses on the red clay.

Robert Turner, the crew’s medical officer, radios the Hab, “Astronaut down, astronaut down!”

The three crew members inside begin emergency protocols. Two don spacesuits, grab a stretcher and enter the airlock. They must wait five painstaking minutes for the air pressure to adjust. If they don’t, they might be torn apart when they step into Mars’ thin atmosphere.

After the agonising wait ends, the rescue party rushes to Aga and rolls her on to the stretcher. They run toward the Hab, manoeuvre her body into the cramped airlock and begin the countdown all over again.

A crew member inside, Kay Sandor, holds a timer against the airlock window, “Five . . . four . . . three . . . two . . .”

They get Aga inside and onto the ground and remove her helmet. After a while, she starts to revive.

This story is from the 24 March 2022 edition of YOU South Africa.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

This story is from the 24 March 2022 edition of YOU South Africa.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

MORE STORIES FROM YOU SOUTH AFRICAView All
BALLON IN THE BAG
YOU South Africa

BALLON IN THE BAG

Manchester City midfielder Rodrigo Hernandez Cascante says his Ballon d'Or win is a victory for Spanish football

time-read
4 mins  |
14 November 2024
IT WAS ALL A LIE
YOU South Africa

IT WAS ALL A LIE

A new doccie exposes the Grey's Anatomy writer who fabricated her life story

time-read
5 mins  |
14 November 2024
'I WILL NEVER GIVE UP'
YOU South Africa

'I WILL NEVER GIVE UP'

After her husband, anticorruption activist Alexei Navalny, was poisoned and murdered by the Kremlin, she became the public face of Russia's opposition. In this candid interview Yulia Navalnaya opens up about life on the run, her perilous family life and why she's continuing her husband's fight to save their country

time-read
10+ mins  |
14 November 2024
AGREE TO DISAGREE
YOU South Africa

AGREE TO DISAGREE

Trevor Noah on how his childhood squabbles with his mother inspired his delightful new book

time-read
4 mins  |
14 November 2024
PAUSE THE CLOCK
YOU South Africa

PAUSE THE CLOCK

Researchers have discovered that the ageing process spikes at 44 and 60. Here's what you can do to slow it down

time-read
5 mins  |
14 November 2024
MPOOMY ON TOP
YOU South Africa

MPOOMY ON TOP

We chat to SA's most popular female podcaster about love, loss and her booming success

time-read
4 mins  |
14 November 2024
MY BROTHER IS NOT TO BLAME
YOU South Africa

MY BROTHER IS NOT TO BLAME

Tinus Drotské says his sibling, ex Bok Nǎka, is the victim in the brawl with a neighbour that landed up in court

time-read
4 mins  |
14 November 2024
MATT THE RECLUSE
YOU South Africa

MATT THE RECLUSE

A year after his friend's tragic death, the actor continues to shun the spotlight

time-read
4 mins  |
14 November 2024
A LEAP OF FAITH
YOU South Africa

A LEAP OF FAITH

After her husband tried to kill her by tampering with her parachute she thought she'd never trust a man again-but now she's found love

time-read
5 mins  |
14 November 2024
THEY'RE MY KIDS!
YOU South Africa

THEY'RE MY KIDS!

This West Coast woman treats her monkeys as iftheyre humans and animal activists are not happy about it

time-read
4 mins  |
14 November 2024