Following the moon landing, there was widespread belief that mankind would soon be going to Mars. The conquest of space had begun. In fact, just two weeks after the Apollo 11 mission returned from the moon, rocket pioneer Wernher von Braun, whose Saturn V rocket had taken humans to the moon, presented NASA’s Space Task Group with a detailed plan for a manned mission to Mars, targeting a launch in 1981. The then-head of NASA, Thomas O. Paine, even specified an exact date: 12 astronauts were to embark on a mission to Mars on November 12, 1981.
But things turned out differently. After only five more moon landings, the program was aborted—and Mars has yet to be reached. So, what happened? In short, NASA lost its way. Government-led spaceflight did not produce progress, but stagnation. Launch costs remained almost unchanged at a high level for decades. And there were no economic incentives to reach Mars.
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