The moon–mars initiative: Making the vision real

Abstract

During the Apollo period, NASA functioned as a destination driven agency, with its efforts focused on reaching the Moon. Since 1973, however, NASA has had no overriding goal, instead functioning as a constituency-driven bureaucracy doling out dollars for an assortment of random programs that do not fit together and do not lead anywhere. As a result, despite NASA budgets over the past two decades fully comparable to the average prevalent during the Apollo period, the space agency's level of accomplishment has been orders of magnitude less. This article discusses the difference between NASA's Apollo era and Shuttle era modes of operation, making clear why NASA needs a goal and why that goal must be humans to Mars.