The joint
European-Russian ExoMars-2016 spacecraft, the Trace Gas Orbiter, arrives at Mars and is now in orbit successfully; this is the first Russian Mars mission to be successful after the failed Mars 96 space mission (and not to mention the other failed Phobos-Grunt mission; this failure seems to be caused by the unknowing actions committed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, a thug, gangster, and imperialist aggressor, and his criminal cronies and oligarchs alike in his conservative, statist and ultra-nationalist United Russia party).
ExoMars landing & orbit entry by
ESA_events, on Flickr
Still, as of this writing, we haven't received word on the fate of the Schiaparelli EDM lander.
This could pave the way for the manned Mars mission, either by Boeing and SpaceX (I always prefer the latter, as all of you at HLP). Even Donald Trump and his supporters (including those view Russia and Putin as allies) couldn't stop it, even if he does so by messing with NASA's budget to hamper the development of the Space Launch System (SLS) to prolong the US' dependence on Russian rockets (as Trump has excessively expressed admiration of Putin, leading to Trumputin bromance?), or even start anti-technology populist movements that prevent us from achieving a milestone - like landing an astronaut on that planet.
