The Young Astronauts Series by Rick North

Athletic Nathan, whose motley crew of boys and girls has reached the semifinals in the United Nations' Mars program, struggles to help them learn the skills they will need to win the coveted roles as young colonizers of the Red Planet

Nathan is worried that is crew is not ready for the launch date but as a team they pull together and show they can work as a team.

Finally on their way to Mars, the young space explorers stop at an orbital space platform, but when a cable snaps during a routine space walk, their entire mission is threatened

On Mars at last, its up to the Alpha team to save a vital supply or the new colony won't survive! "Danger Zone" "We're Martians!" they cheered through their space suit helmet radios as three set foot on Mars. Nathan and his Alpha team had finally landed on the red planet and the first stage of their mission was over. Now the hard stuff began. The young space pioneers used all their talents to build a new colony, fighting deadly dust storms, sub zero temperatures and tough terrain... moreOn Mars at last, its up to the Alpha team to save a vital supply or the new colony won't survive! "Danger Zone" "We're Martians!" they cheered through their space suit helmet radios as three set foot on Mars. Nathan and his Alpha team had finally landed on the red planet and the first stage of their mission was over. Now the hard stuff began. The young space pioneers used all their talents to build a new colony, fighting deadly dust storms, sub zero temperatures and tough terrain. But they survived. Even Sergei stopped clowning around long enough to help Alice build the high-tech greenhouse and Noemi pitched in to mix a weird kind of cement out of the rocky red soil. Then disorder hit when a rocket malfunction forced Karl to crash-land a vital cargo pod full of food and equipment over a hundred lies from the settlement. It's up to Nathan and his crew to risk their lives aboard the Mars Rover in a daring rescue mission through deadly radiation and volcanoes to get the supplies and save the entire Mars colony from certain death! less

When a mysterious explosion destroys a dormitory on one of the Mars colonies and one of their friends disappears, Nathan, Suki and the other team leaders set aside their differences to rescue their missing compatriot