As an aside, two things trouble me. 1. Why does the government allow so many Martians to come here without reciprocity, and 2., how do so many get elected to Congress? Does that explain Barbara Boxer?

You invest (heavily) in science or you lag behind.  You want to push the limits of the human experience or you want to remain in a philosophical atrophied state.  As a species, we've had a good run for over/about 150,000 years- and there is no evidence to suggest that we'll dominate this planet forever for numerous reasons I don't have to mention here.  Exploration is our future- a lack of it, a sense of invincibility as a permanent state on Earth, the idea that we are alone in the universe- are ideas of the past.  As a species, it's either about time (or will be soon) to put up or shut up.  "But how much is it going to cost?"  A lot.  Get started.

Yes. And let's start with Obama, Biden, Murtha, Pelosi, Schumer, and the Kennedy clan.

Yes, please drop my sister's boyfriend off in one of Mars' fire lakes if they have one.

Mars is the next logical and possible destination. Sooner or later, there will be a serious program to send humans there. If we can do it today, why procrastinate and wait any longer? robots, no matter how sophisticated, can never perform tasks and duties that living humans could. space exploration is no longer an "if" but a "when".

Yes, lets start with sending Rosie O'Donell & Paris Hilton there, if successful maybe some deadbeat politicians, dictators and warmongers too.

Only if I can include my shortlist of deadbeats, imbeciles and mouth breathers.

I don't want to pay for it and I think we have more important tasks at hand. Just think of all the terrorists we could kill with the money a Mars program would cost!

Why? It's a lot less costly to send an unmanned mission to Mars. We can collect the same data that we would get by actually sending people over. Any project to do so would be many years in the making. It would cost trillions and it would simply be a vanity project. I support space exploration, but a manned mission would be another act of government redundancy.

At this point in time it would be costly and foolish to bother. Although, if some private entity which could be regulated by the government cared to try, so be it.

Yes, absolutely. For those that argue we could spend the money in other areas....I agree. Unfortunately, the government is ALWAYS going to waste money, in new weapons programs, in giving to countries we don't know of for things we don't care about...something. At least if we're trying to do something in space I can feel like my tax dollars are being spent on something important to me.

Pursue it immediately. We want to progress as a nation and why not send a human to Mars? Maybe he/she can find and discover life in the planet.

There are plenty of arguments about the merits of a space program, but it seems to me that, other than showing that we are technologically capable of doing it, there's not much point. So, we send a man or a woman to Mars - why? The tax dollars could be much better spent of education in Appalachia, doing research on any one of a number of diseases, protecting our borders, replacing crumbling infrastructure, or what have you, right here on Earth. We don't need any more shuttle disasters that end up killing people, either.

we should start immediately. the first shuttle should include michael jackson, courtney love, and as many violent prisoners and defense attorneys as possible.

We just want to see the pictures, keep sending th robots, nobody physically needs to go there. Waste of cash.

No, the U. S. should not. The economy and the trouble in Iraq are more pressing issues. Besides, a Mars mission costs too much money. How is NASA going to pay for it if Congress is currently using $80 billion for Iraq?

I have a short list of folks that I would recommend be sent on permanent sabbatical to Mars. Ohh, that's not what you meant.

Sure, one day, but not now. There are more important issues that need attention as I said in my space program comment.

It MUST be pursued! Back in the 60s, it was supposed to happen by 1980, but sadly, it did not. The Mars Manned Mission will be one of the most important, awe-inspiring, and just plain COOL event of the 21st century.