It’s tricky getting to Mars. The voyage takes months, your spacecraft has to perform some delicate manoeuvres along the way and then – there is Mars itself! It has not been a welcoming world. Almost 50 missions have been launched to the red planet by a host of different nations and space agencies. Some 30 of these have failed or enjoyed only very limited success.
Today (7 March 2016) we celebrate the 90th birthday of Dame Margaret Weston, who worked at the Museum for many years and was its director from 1973-86.