Oh, I think I called that one back when everybody was getting all excited about it. Unless the Chinese get extremely ambitious fast, there's no way I'm going to see human beings on Mars in my lifetime.

I have my doubts as to whether people would be able to survive the trip there and back, anyway. We've never even had human beings fly out past the orbit of the Moon, to see if it could be done. No trips to LaGrange points, or anything. Space is incredibly harsh, and we're really just not built for it. And if somebody managed survive a one-way trip, after getting pounded by radiation and all kinds of other unknown stuff out there, they probably ain't coming back.

Space exploration is humanities future if there is going to be a future. It is a shame we are letting it all fade and die. With one years Defense budget we could put a small colony on nearly every rock in the solar system and build several Ships capable of travailing the Solar System if we wanted to go for it. I guess we will just continue to kill instead.