What is NASA's plan for sending people to Mars?

There is no reason to send a man to Mars.

@Dutchess_III How about a woman?

The trip will not be a return journey and it’s purpose is to find more living space for mankind. A surprising amount of people volunteered.

There was no reason to send man to the moon
There was no reason for man to climb Everest
Reasoning doesn’t come into it, we (man) do it because it’s there & because we can.

The moon landing was a cold war thing. Dick waving, if you will. Also, we didn’t have the ability to send probes out like we do now.

People as individuals take whatever chances they want, like climbing Mt. Everest. Space travel requires government involvement, and they’re not going to fund something as dangerous and useless as sending a human to Mars, unless there is a need of some kind.

Human beings love to find out what is “out there”. It is in the nature of man. To argue against it is futile. Nature is what it is.
I hope I am alive when human beings reach Mars. I assume I will be. Pretty cool stuff. Plus, imagine the all the money that will exchange hands here on Earth to make it happen. Talk about economic expansion.

NASA sent enough unmanned missions to Mars to know that it is a dead desert. Freezing temps. Very very little atmospher or water. Nothing to eat. The only thing that there is a lot of is nothing. And nothing plus nothing equals nothing. Why do some people want to spend nearly a year in a small box to get there with no hope to ever come back to Mother Earth? Must be pure madness.

The plan for a one-way trip to Mars comes from a private company called Mars One. NASA’s plan is a lot more sensible and long-term.

If you are ever given the choice between a private company and a government agency like NASA or ESA to take a trip to Mars, choose NASA/ESA.
They will overengineer everything, have multiple redundancies, comprehensive training, and their project will invariably involve a return trip.
The private company will try to save costs on everything. Equipment will be built as cheaply as possible and will be constantly on the verge of breakdown.
You will very likely die on the trip to Mars, not to mention that they will not even plan a return trip, because it costs too much.
Your rocket might even explode on launch.

NASA would not consider a mission that was designed to be no return. Even the animals they launched were launched with the intention of their safe return (though this was not always successful).

@talljasperman Don’t be stupid, it will be a man going to mars. They are going to send women to venus, duh.

^^^ Ha ha! :D

It will involve enormous expense, planning and technological achievement to realise an idea that is mind bogglingly stupid.

@flutherother
Do us all a favour and move back into a cave.