Enceladus - 2095

When news reached Earth of life flourishing around a nearby star, it was time to start thinking seriously about manned interstellar travel. The technology was ripe, but had yet to be tested - and so the Athena program was born. The intention was to send a crew of six to Saturn's moon Enceladus while testing the technology that would soon be implemented in the Odyssey program. The Europe-built spacecraft Juffertje (damselfly) was the result, and the mission went smoothly. One of Athena's flight engineers went on to command the first Odyssey mission.

Although similar in shape (if not size), Odyssey and Juffertje differed in several key ways. The Saturn-bound ship lacked forward-facing thrusters, relying on aerobraking to slow down at its destination and firing its main thruster while flying in reverse to slow down at Earth. Odyssey's prow shield was crucial for protecting the craft and crew from interstellar debris while flying at relativistic speeds. Juffertje's prow shield served mainly as a radiator and a sail for aerobraking.

On the way to Saturn, the crew of Juffertje spent most of their time in two pods that, when berthed to the Hab Node between the solar panels and prow shield, provided spin gravity. In this photo, they are not visible, and that is for a good reason: the pods doubled as landers. Because a large portion of each landing module had to be left behind on the surface of Enceladus, the crew lived in microgravity for a majority of their return to Earth.

See also Mars - 2042