The Origins of SEI

“Mars responds to a fundamental need in all of us.

There is a human imperative to explore. People must explore because
they are human beings with a desire to expand the scope of human
experience. Exploration adds to our knowledge, satisfies our curiosity,
and responds to our sense of adventure. We are going to Mars because
we are alive, and because it reflects something very special inside
each and every one of us. ”

NASA Associate Administrator, Arnold Aldrich, 1 May 1990

During the four decades prior to President Bush’s announcement of SEI, send­ing humans to Mars had often captured the imagination of the space community as the ultimate 20th century goal for the space program.1 Throughout that time period, inspired engineers generated scores of sophisticated mission architectures for accomplishing this objective. During the early Nixon administration, NASA’s leaders proposed exploration of the red planet as the post-Apollo goal of the Ameri­can space program. This effort was thwarted, however, by powerful political and budgetary forces. In the early 1980s, a group of enthusiasts held several confer­ences aimed at reviving interest in exploration of Mars. This campaign, combined with the recommendations of two important advisory committees, resulted in the [35]

Reagan administration officially placing human exploration beyond Earth orbit on the space agenda. This chapter highlights the 40-year “softening up” process that laid the foundation for President Bush’s announcement of SEI in the summer of 1989- This historical background will set the context under which human exploration of Mars ultimately reached the government agenda. More important, it will provide insights regarding emergent trends that increased the likelihood that Mars explo­ration would receive favorable consideration within important parts of the space policy making community, but also should have forewarned key policy makers that there were great challenges to adopting a costly new human spaceflight program from other parts of that community.