Sorry to contradict you, but that genuinely was NASA's plan, not just von Braun's: http://www.airspacemag.com/space/the-road-to-mars-961235/?all http://www.air

Sorry to contradict you, but that genuinely was NASA's plan, not just von Braun's: http://www.airspacemag.com/space/the-road-to-mars-961235/?all http://www.airspacemag.com/space/the-road-to-mars-961235/?al... > Washington-savvy Webb stepped down in 1969. Tom Paine, an entirely different kind of NASA chief, replaced him. Pain, a Washington neophyte with little grasp of politics, let vision be his guide as he set out to define NASA's post-Apollo goals. He liked the audacity of a plan that Mueller's office had outlined for NASA. Evolved from JAG work, Mueller's Integrated Program Plan saw a space base in Earth orbit, a moon base, and humans on Mars—all by 1982. [...] > In September 1969, President Nixon's Space Task Group endorsed the NASA plan, but with reservations. NASA formed an agency-wide team to begin implementation. But Nixon ignored the task group's recommendations, opting instead to funnel NASA's budget toward building the space shuttle.