Reading 1 Mars probably isn't a very nice place to visit. There isn't a lot of air or water, and in winter it is colder than Antarctica! But the scenery is There are mountains that are three times as high as Mount Everest, and canyons that are three times as and five times as long as the Grand Canyon deep 2 Mars is only a small planet. It is about half as big as the Earth. However scientists are very interested in it. The first spacecraft to visit Mars was Mariner 4 in 1965. Since then more than thirty spacecraft have been sent to learn more about the planet and its two The most successful of these until now has been the USAs Phoenix, which landed on Mars on 25 May 2008. Phoenix took more than 30,000 pictures of the planet. Scientists have learned a lot about Mars from these pictures. 3 More spacecraft will be sent to Mars in the future. But when will people start going with them? Some scientists think it could be as soon as 2030. Whenever we go, it will be a long trip. The first travellers to Mars will be away from home for more than two years. It won't be easy, but that hasn't stopped us in the past. We've already been to the moon. Mars is next.