With its space shuttle in retirement, NASA is now preparing to land humans on Mars. The other Mars, that is.

To set foot on a more down-to-earth model, all anyone needs is a slight suspension of disbelief. On arrival, Tom Sachs will be waiting — by the espresso machine.

A sculptor best known for his duct tape, foamcore and construction-barrier reproductions of Modernist furniture and buildings, guns, Hello Kitty dolls and even Nazi death camps, Sachs is now leading visitors to the Park Avenue Armory around his own private Red Planet. Temporarily ensconced within the armory’s vast Wade Thompson Drill Hall, it has a beer cooler, a hot peanuts dispensary and the aforementioned espresso machine, all stripped of polish and ready to rocket.

Definitely bring the kids. “ Space Program: Mars ,” a collaboration between Sachs, Creative Time and the armory, is an inner-space playground for the whole family. It’s also a serious artwork.

Sachs, 44, has been developing his own space program since at least 2006, when his full-scale, plywood Lunar Landing Module set down at the Gagosian Gallery in Los Angeles. The same structure, newly outfitted with a functioning bar, toilet, “fecal stimulant” and command center, now sits on a launch pad at the center of the space, surrounded by red plywood berms that stand in for the Mars terrain, lit by a “sun” of bright lights mounted on a large, tripod-supported disc.