NASA and aerospace managers are eying human missions to a different type of celestial body: asteroids.
According to reports, Lockheed Martin has consulted with NASA about using the Orion crew capsule - now under design and development - on missions to nearby asteroids. New rockets being developed at Marshall Space Flight Center - the Ares I and Ares V - could be used on this type of mission.
A White House appointed independent panel suggested that NASA should pursue the goal of traveling to an asteroid before the space agency sends humans to Mars. The reasons given were to take smaller steps toward the Red Planet because current technology couldn't mitigate the risk of a months long trip to and from Mars.
Asteroids orbit around 10 million miles away from Earth. Mars is about 36 million miles away at its closest approach to Earth, but it will not be that close to Earth again until 2287. Generally, Mars is about 100 million miles away.