>The only difference between Kennedy's speech and the Mars speech would be that Kennedy's was used to win the cold war, and the mars speech would be used to fix

>The only difference between Kennedy's speech and the Mars speech would be that Kennedy's was used to win the cold war, and the mars speech would be used to fix internal economic strife. With all due respect, I am continually surprised by STEM folk who make this Mars argument. Kennedy-Moon Landing was one data point. That's not to say "we need more data" or something stupid like that, rather realize that in predicting data point #2 will be just as successful in every way, shape, and form as was data point #1, you are extrapolating a general trend from the single most unique event in human history. It's impossible to get just as excited about Mars as everyone was about the Moon. (Yes, yes, a second green planet would be cool; the concept of terraforming is news to no one.) By the time anyone sets foot on Mars, it will have been longer between the Moon and Mars than it was between the Wright Brothers and the Moon. That's your context for how impressed the public is capable of being.