“... And as we approach entry, the crew of Ares I has a special message that they would like to share.”

“

My Dear Fellow Humans on the good Earth and Moon,

We have faced and persevered through the challenges which this past decade has brought... We can look back at the past decade and centuryʼs dreadful and nightmarish discord with great fear. But we can also look to the future that we made possible through our ingenuity and tenacity, for that time is not stopping and we must move forward. You will find that we made great progress—we landed on the Moon in 1969, when 650 million people tuned in and watched live it live—and we have done it 11 more times, and again with Artemis... Now... it is time... to take it to the next step, because we can.

We humans have more in common than you might think... afterall, we are all united under the banner of ʽhumans,ʼ arenʼt we? We will overthink social interactions immediately after saying goodbye. And we must try to come up with a clever comeback—even if itʼs ten hours after the argument has ended. On this Christmas Day, some will celebrate, and some will live a regular day. Some kids will wake up and race to the Christmas tree and excitingly investigate the presents underneath and when their parents arrive they will ask, ʽCan I open my present now please?ʼ Some people will enjoy their day off, while others must go to work. But when one says ʽGood morning and Merry Christmas!ʼ Another will reply with ʽGood morning, and a Merry Christmas to you too.ʼ

We went to the Moon for all of mankind, and we will go to Mars as one—and to the beyond—because it is within our human nature to be explorers and challengers. If our trip should leave our marks on the crimson surface, the future generation must preserve it. Keep it as a memorial, which will serve as a reminder of how far weʼve come. May the children of the Martian generation point to that mark which the first explorers made on the crimson surface, and say, ʽon this Christmas day in history, humans landed on Mars.ʼ

Goodbye for seven minutes, till we touch down on the Red Planet and make the second small step.

And from the Crew of Ares I, we close with see you later and a Merry Christmas.

Crew of Ares I
Whom some may call
ʽThe First Men on Marsʼ

”