After Bush's proposal on January 14, he guaranteed that by 2010 the Space Shuttle fleet would retire. This result will lead into the enhancement of a new "Crew Exploration Vehicle", and better prepare it. These improvements will help astronauts, for the first time since Apollo 17 to be carted past low earth orbit (Burk). .
Bush's objective is to push for a manned mission to mars; but to many, there is a great level of uncertainty that the mission to Mars seems very risky and many aspects of this journey actually taking place are very skeptical ("3,2,1,0"). Bush has assured NASA that they will revisit the Moon by 2015, and no later than 2020. This will help establish the technology necessary to organize for a manned mission to Mars, and be able to send humans to the unknown. NASA believes, that our return to the moon is only meant as a rest area, on our way to Mars (Gwyneth).
James Van Allen, one of the founding fathers of space exploration proposed that the United States could explore Mars by sending robots instead of humans. Van Allen believes that robots can do as good a job as humans, casualties will be non-existent, and they may also provide greater quality and results than human exploration ("3,2,1,0"). Emotional impulses and national aspirations are the main reasons why the country wants a manned mission to Mars, rather than sending robots. It is believed that an astronaut's judgment, decision-making, and resourcefulness increase the chances of having successful results in space exploration. However, an immense fraction of the unmanned program for the scientific exploration of space is a necessary requirement for a manned flight (Logsdon et la 410-11). .
However, many people believe that President Bush is using his proposal for a manned mission to Mars as a tool to both persuade people to vote for him in his upcoming election and to benefit aerospace companies financially. People fear that just like his father before him, who is of course the former President of the United States, also had goals of sending a manned mission to Mars; however, they were just plans and were never really implemented ("3,2,1,0").