Ever since K.Tsiolkovsky laid theoretical foundations for a method to break the bonds of Earth's gravity and reach space, the dream of flying to other planets in our Solar System graduated from the realm of pure fantasy into a field of practical activities. This work received a powerful impetus from rapid development of rocket and space technology in the second half of the 20-th century.
Design work on manned mission to planet Mars which, among all the planets in our Solar System, has environments that are closest to those of Earth, started at RSC Energia almost as early as the work on first manned spaceflights.
One of the first projects to send humans to a planet of our Solar System was the Heavy Interplanetary Manned Vehicle project. As early as 1959, a team of enthusiasts was already working on a concept, fantastic at the time, for a manned mission to planets of our Solar System. Gradually, the concept was taking on the form of a design, which became the basis for defining specifications of the advanced N1 rocket, then in its initial design phase.
N1 rocket was to put into a circular orbit a spacecraft with an upper stage, which was then to be injected into a Mars fly-by trajectory. Subsequently, assisted by the martian gravity field, it was to come back to the vicinity of the Earth, and the descent vehicle was to return to Earth. The Heavy Interplanetary Manned Vehicle (HIMV) had the mass of 75 tons, the length of 12 meters, a pressurized cabin 6 meters in diameter, a crew of three, and the total flight time of 2 or 3 years. It was envisaged as having an instrumentation compartment (doubling as a radiation shelter for the crew during solar flare activity), as well as a chlorella reactor to provide food for the crew. In flight, HIMV was to revolve about its axis to create artificial gravity.
Since then, as the work progressed, the Mars mission concept has undergone many chages and updates.