"Romance to Reality" Comes to the Mars Institute | Press Release - August 27, 2003 | Mars Institute - To further the scientific study, exploration, and public understanding of Mars: "'Romance to Reality' Comes to the Mars Institute

Mountain View, CA, - August 27, 2003 - Famed author Ray Bradbury once said 'It is part of the nature of man to start with romance and build to a reality.' It is only fitting that today when Mars is closer to Earth than it has been in nearly 60,000 years and that the romance of Mars still strongly calls to humanity that we re-launch historian and Mars Institute Faculty member David S. F. Portree's 'Romance to Reality' on the Mars Institute web site.

First launched on August 28, 1996, the popular educational web site now contains more than 300 summaries and descriptions of documents from the history of planning for moon and Mars voyages. The new site sports a new look, including a logo donated by professional space exploration artist Pat Rawlings.

'Romance to Reality has been my lunatic obsession these past 7 years,' laughs Portree. But Portree launched the site with a serious purpose in mind: to help get humans to Mars. 'I thought that if people knew the sheer number of ideas that exist for going to Mars, then the goal of humans on Mars would become more attainable,' Portree explains.

Romance to Reality has led to numerous invitations for its author to write and speak about Mars exploration. In 2001, for example, NASA published Portree's book Humans to Mars: Fifty Years of Mission Planning. 'NASA engineers and scientists contact me with questions,' Portree adds, 'as do many students around the world.'

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NOW PART OF THE MARS INSTITUTE. - LRK -