Human mission to Mars a similar mission in English in the book "The Conquest of Space" (1949), featuring illustrations by Chesley Bonestell. Von Braun's Mars project envisioned nearly a thousand three-stage vehicles launching from Earth to ferry parts for the Mars mission to be constructed at a space station in Earth orbit. The mission itself featured a fleet of ten spacecraft with a combined crew of 70 heading to Mars, bringing three winged surface excursion ships that would land horizontally on the surface of Mars. (Winged landing was considered possible because at the time of his proposal, the Martian atmosphere was believed to be
Space Exploration Alliance of establishing a permanent lunar base before follow-on efforts are made to move on to the planet Mars and beyond. The organizations involved in supporting the Space Exploration Alliance include: Collectively these groups total almost one million Americans as members or as employees of member companies. The first goal of the SEA was to work toward receiving broad Congressional support for the new national Vision for Space Exploration outside low Earth orbit, which the SEA refers to as "Moon, Mars and Beyond". The SEA began their effort by working together on a "Moon-Mars Blitz" campaign on Capitol Hill in Washington,