This story appears in the August 2017 issue of National Geographic magazine ... But in 1965 the first flyby mission to Mars returned photos of pristine rock—and nothing else.

It's dustier than the road to death, drier than Dorothy Parker's martini, colder than the devil's kiss. Like much of Mars, the butterscotch plain is inhospitable, empty, ancient, and, when it ...

National Geographic Fellow and a regular contributor to National Geographic Magazine. Joel started the Photo Ark in his hometown of Lincoln, Nebraska, over a decade ago. Since then, he has visited ...