Return of the Argonauts

The completion of the first Argosy mission to Mars.The two mission spacecraft (in the foreground) have used their NERVA nuclear engines a final time to brake and insert themselves into low Earth orbit. Here the ships will be re-provisioned and refueled for the next Mars mission. The 12 astronauts of this mission will spend the next three months in isolation in the cylindrical Isolation lab, undergoing medical checks and ensuring they have not brought back any Martian microbes. The lab will be resupplied and crewed by Medical staff ferried up in space shuttles like that stationkeeping near-by.