A Mission to Mars?

The vision of human missions to Mars had long been central to those dream­ing about exploratory voyages into the solar system. The prospect of former or even current life in some form on Mars had for many years intrigued scien­tists and explorers. Even if there were no life to be found there, Mars seemed a much more interesting celestial body to explore than was the Moon.24

The notion of getting ready for Mars missions in the 1980s as the ratio­nale for developing a space station, a space shuttle, nuclear propulsion, and other new capabilities in the 1970s, while retaining the Saturn V for heavy lift assignments, had been in the background of Newell’s planning for some months. However, it did not figure prominently in Mueller’s integrated plan, which was focused on operations in Earth-Moon space. What Paine decided to do in July 1969 was bring the “Mars in the 1980s” goal to the forefront, to see if the nation and the White House were ready to take on another Apollo-like challenge in space.