NASA Sets Sight on Mars. I Just Hope Its Aim Is True.

Last week, President Obama reaffirmed that NASA will put humans on Mars "by the 2030s." In an editorial on the CNN website, he wrote about an initiative that will help enable it: deep-space crew habitats designed by private companies for the long-duration mission. NASA is pitching in $65 million over the next couple of years for the companies to create prototype modules on the ground that can be used to develop the understanding needed to do the real thing. My response to this is: OK. Sounds coo...