] On August 27, Mars will be closer to Earth than at any
] point in the past 73,000 years.
]
] That's good news for amateur astronomers, but it won't
] make a manned mission to the Red Planet any easier. For
] that, NASA has earmarked an initial $2 million to build
] the Integrated Human Exploration Mission Simulation
] Facility, dubbed Integrity, at Houston's Johnson Space
] Center.
]
] Integrity is an all-inclusive, deep-space mission
] simulator that will house mock transit, habitation and
] landing modules, complete with waste-, air- and
] water-recycling technologies.