By Natascha Moors
Space Editor, News Network Website
February 18th, 2074 

"The Pegasus" has completed it's launch from the International Orbital Dockyard, marking the first time humans are travelling to live permanently on another planet.

The Pegasus is carrying 300 Human souls onboard, with 1,000 Robot workers for general support to the crew.

The launch follows 3 prior expeditions that have setup the functional Mars base "Mars-3".

All prior expeditions were fully crewed by Robot workers, where human oversight was only from space command centres on Earth. The robots onboard the Pegasus will add to this workforce.

The 300 souls have been chosen from a few initiatives:

Key roles such as leadership & maintenance are formed of a mixture of Astronauts & Military officers assigned by UN officials.

Other key roles such as "Head of Agriculture" or "Head of Research" were assigned by vote across space agencies.

The remaining spaces on board were picked by raffle amongst an internationally shared pool of Earth's brightest.

"Everyone alive today will remember this moment" said U.N. Space Secretary Lauren Finchley, in a speech after the all-clear was sounded from the Pegasus' Captain.

Continuing her speech, she went on to say: "This is the first of what we hope to be many colonies, stretching all the way to Pluto. This is in many ways the first step towards many more first steps - all because of the one planted on the Moon."

In questions afterwards, having been asked about promising further colonies so soon, she responded: "We'll need more in the coming decades for our continuing resource needs, from Rare Metals to fresh water. To keep our ambitions tight to the chest - just Mars - I think is underestimating just how costly space is, not to mention Earth's needs. So I say we go with gusto, and think of not just one colony, but of the many that will sprout in the future."

The Pegasus is part of a fleet of 6 ships, the other 5 having already been dispatched ahead of the Pegasus' launch.

The supporting ships en-route are carrying industrial equipment, life support systems, prefab constructions, and the necessary goods to sustain modern life at the base whilst the human crew begin their lives there.

Part of the goal of these support craft is to add triple-redundancy backups to all systems at Mars-3 ahead of the pegasus landing.

The ship was an international project overseen by the UN, where the shell has been predominantly constructed by Orbital Constructors & Manufacturing, with computing technology provided by Microsoft.

The fleet is stated as being the first to be constructed almost entirely by Robot workers, with Adam Project & FNQ Robotics working on all ships in some capacity.

From conception, it's been widely stated the Pegasus has taken 8 years to build (where the actual construction of it began in 2070).

The other ships in the fleet each took roughly 2 years to construct, each being launched as they finished deployment.

This shared construction has been the source of some controversy, with key members such as GEC being described as "intruding into the development", and "pushing past defined boundaries, interfering with key deadlines"

The name for the ship was chosen by a pool of celebrated scientists & science-fiction authors.

The name for the colony itself has not been decided yet, currently still known as "Mars-3".

The 3 previous attempts at a colony, 0, 1 & 2 had each been halted due to issues with construction.

Mars-1 is most notable as having suffered an explosive decompression, damaging multiple Robots in the process.

In a nod to previous Mars expeditions, the Perseverance Rover will be located and brought to the center of the new colony, to carry on as a monument