Baby Boomer History of Planet Mars

A Boomer s History of Mars

From radio and film to TV and NASA 12 Martian moments

Mars Fever

The Red Planet has fascinated humans since ancient times. The idea that it has intelligent life — advanced mostly by self-taught astronomer Percival Lowell — gave us a centurylong case of “Mars fever.” On the 50th anniversary of Mariner 4’s quest for an up-close look, how many of these Martian moments do you remember?

1898 The War of the Worlds

In H.G. Wells’ sci-fi classic, Martians use robotic fighting machines to take over Earth.

1938 War of the Worlds radio

Orson Welles and his Mercury Theatre make an alien invasion seem just a bit too real.

1953 Invaders From Mars

The surreal frightfest begins with a 12-year-old boy seeing a flying saucer land out back.

1962 The Three Stooges in Orbit

Larry, Moe and Curly Joe foil Martians intent on destroying Disneyland — and the rest of the planet.

1963 My Favorite Martian

The TV series features Ray Walston as an anthropologist from Mars who’s stranded on Earth.

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1964 Mariner 4

The spacecraft takes off to capture the first images of Mars from deep space.

1971 Sesame Street s Yip Yips

These bug-eyed little Martians have terrifying encounters with everyday Earth objects.

1977 Marvin the Martian

The soft-spoken but evil villain created by Chuck Jones in 1948 costars in the TV special Bugs Bunny in Space.

1990 Total Recall

Arnold Schwarzenegger travels to Mars to uncover who he really is and why his memory was erased. There he meets Kuato, a deformed humanoid who reads his mind.

1996 Mars Attacks

Tim Burton lines up big stars for his parody of sci-fi B movies, based on the cult trading-card series.

2024 Mars One

A one-way trip to Mars? Would you volunteer for a permanent human settlement?

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As the last of the and more baby boomers are retiring, AARP celebrates the generation that changed the world.

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