The Ares III mission was a human mission to Mars, orchestrated by NASA, and directed by a crew of six astronauts. The Ares space program began in the early 21st Century where the first humans walked on Mars during the Ares I mission. Like all Ares missions, a series of 14 robotic supply drops are deployed to Mars to supply the crew when they arrive. All Ares crew members travel to Mars in the Hermes Spacecraft, a spacecraft that uses nuclear-powered ion engines to accelerate all the way to Mars.