The Future History of Mars - Part One

1969: Neil Armstrong becomes the first man to set foot on the Moon.

2020: John Boone becomes the first man to set foot on Mars.

2027: The first mass-landing arrives on Mars.

It's the greatest challenge mankind has ever faced.

In 2027, the Ares, the biggest space-worthy craft ever built by man, reaches high orbit around Mars. Inside is a crew who will become the first one hundred people to land on the planet's surface.

Among them are the Russian team, led by the magnetic Maya Toitovna and radical socialist Arkady Bogdanov with their pragmatic engineer Nadia Cherneshevsky; Hiroko Ai - a Japanese biologist; and the Americans, led by Boone and the ambitious Frank Chalmers. Their mission: terraform a frozen wasteland with no atmosphere into a new Eden.

Their mission must succeed. The future of human civilization depends on it.