Editing Mars Direct (section)

== Reception ==

Baker pitched Mars Direct at the [[Marshall Spaceflight Center]] in April 1990,<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.wired.com/2013/04/mars-direct-1990/|title=Mars Direct: Humans to Mars in 1999! (1990)|first=David S. F.|last=Portree|magazine=Wired |via=www.wired.com}}</ref> where reception was very positive. The engineers flew around the country to present their plan, which generated significant interest. When their tour culminated in a demonstration at the [[National Space Society]] they received a standing ovation.<ref name = "Mars Underground" />  The plan gained rapid media attention shortly afterwards.

Resistance to the plan came from teams within NASA working on the [[Space Station Freedom|Space Station]] and advanced propulsion concepts{{citation needed|date=December 2014}}.  The NASA administration rejected Mars Direct. Zubrin remained committed to the strategy, and after parting with David Baker attempted to convince the new NASA administration of Mars Direct's merits in 1992.<ref name = "Mars Underground" />

After being granted a small research fund at Martin Marietta, Zubrin and his colleagues successfully demonstrated an in-situ propellant generator which achieved an efficiency of 94%.<ref name = "Mars Underground" /> No chemical engineers partook in the development of the demonstration hardware.<ref name = "Mars Underground" /> After showing the positive results to the [[Johnson Space Center]], the NASA administration still held several reservations about the plan.<ref name = "Mars Underground" />

In November 2003, Zubrin was invited to speak to the U.S. Senate committee on the future of space exploration.<ref name = "Mars Underground" />  Two months later the [[Presidency of George W. Bush|Bush administration]] announced the creation of the [[Constellation program]], a human spaceflight initiative with the goal of sending humans to the Moon by 2020.  While a Mars mission was not specifically detailed, a plan to reach Mars based on utilizing the [[Orion spacecraft]] was tentatively developed for implementation in the 2030s.  In 2009 the Obama administration began a review of the Constellation program, and after budgetary concerns the program was cancelled in 2010.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Constellation-program|title=Constellation program {{!}} space program|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica|access-date=2018-02-03|language=en}}</ref>

There are a variety of [[Psychological and sociological issues affecting space travel|psychological and sociological issues]] that could affect long-duration expeditionary space missions.  Early human spaceflight missions to Mars are expected by some to have significant psycho-social problems to overcome, as well as provide considerable data for refining mission design, mission planning, and crew selection for future missions.<ref name=kanas2008>
{{cite book |last=Kanas|first=Nicholas |author2=Manzey, D. |title=Space Psychology and Psychiatry |edition=2nd |year=2008 |publisher=Microcosm Press and Springer |location=El Segundo, California, and Dordrecht, The Netherlands }}</ref>