page_title: Inspiration Mars Foundation
section_title: Mission trajectory as proposed
hierarchical_section_title: Inspiration Mars Foundation / Mission trajectory as proposed
caption_attribution_description: English: Flight path of Inspiration Mars capsule during fly-by periapsis of the planet Mars.
context_page_description: Inspiration Mars Foundation is a now defunct American nonprofit organization founded by Dennis Tito that in 2013 proposed to launch a crewed mission to flyby Mars in January 2018, or 2021 if they missed the first synodic opportunity in 2018.
  Their website became defunct by late 2015. They are no longer operating.
context_section_description: They proposed a free return trajectory to allow the spacecraft to use the smallest possible amount of propellant to flyby Mars and return to Earth. They stated that the January 2018 launch window offered a rare orbit opportunity to travel to Mars and return to Earth in 501 days.
  Their stated backup plan involved a mission beginning in 2021 but it would be 88 days longer. They stated it would require both a flyby of Venus and Mars. The flight would take the spacecraft within 800 kilometres of the surface of Venus, using the planet for a gravity assist to speed the travel to Mars.
  According to a paper written by Tito, "the mission would require no maneuvers except small course corrections after a trans-Martian injection burn, [and] would allow no aborts. ... [It will] use low Earth orbit launch and crewed-spacecraft technology, outfitted for the long duration of a flight to Mars." They speculated that when the spacecraft returned to Earth it would reenter the atmosphere at 50 000 km per hour (ca 13.9 km/s), faster than any previous return. But they never got anywhere.
caption: Inspiration Mars Periapsis.
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