Alyssa Carson is not your average 13-year-old. She is set to appear on Jeopardy next week, has been training to be an astronaut for nine years and insists that she will be the first human on Mars.
Lots of 13-year-old girls and boys have big dreams of being an astronaut or a brain surgeon, but very few start preparing for their careers at age four. Earlier this week, Carson told the BBC in an interview that she’s been training “for nine years so far.”
Carson is quite matter of fact about her plans to travel to the Red Planet. “As I get older and I continue to do more things, the resume will just eventually get longer,” she said.
When asked about his daughter’s plans, Alyssa’s dad, Bert Carson, said: “I absolutely think Alyssa will be on Mars. There’s not a doubt in my mind.”
All about Mars
On her website, Alyssa explains why she is so committed to traveling to Mars. “This could possibly be our next Earth. Just think about all the things that are in space. For example: planets we have never explored, galaxies that we have never heard of, stars that are just babies, black holes that are as wide as the sun to Pluto multiple times and has the mass of a billion suns, parts of the universe that we have never seen. Just think of all that stuff just floating around. It’s more than you can imagine. I AM THE MARS GENERATION.”
First human on Mars: Alyssa Carson’s accomplishments to date
Originally from Baton Rouge, Alyssa is studying science and several languages, and became the first person to take part in all three of NASA’s world space camps. These NASA camps consist of five days of training sessions for aspiring astronauts pre-teen astronauts. NASA has already commented it thinks that Alyssa has an opportunity to tb the first human on Mars and she has already been training for the mission.
Moreover, the 13-year-old whirlwind has already given a Tedx talk in Greece and has met with the Mars One team in the Netherlands.
