NASA is developing an ambitious human spaceflight mission to Mars using a stepping stone approach that will take us beyond the Moon, to an asteroid and ultimately to the Red Planet. Our pioneering work sending humans to the Moon, living and working in space for more than a decade onboard the International Space Station, and our groundbreaking robotic exploration of Mars give us the confidence – and knowledge – that we can carry out these never-before-attempted missions.
As part of this plan, the agency is developing the Orion crew capsule and the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket to that will allow expansion of human presence beyond low-Earth orbit.The SLS rocket’s high performance and large payload fairings also offer many benefits for a variety of potential science missions to places such as Mars, Saturn and Jupiter. NASA continues to meet important milestones ahead of Orion’s first trip to space on Exploration Flight Test-1 in September, and is making good technical progress to develop the heavy-lift rocket. We applaud the growing interest in exploring Mars, and note the significance of others outside NASA discussing the benefits of Orion and SLS to satisfy their mission needs. It confirms that these two elements are key components of future exploration capabilities beyond low-Earth orbit.