He said NASA's focus is to conduct more, less-expensive missions, similar to how it operated in NASA's early days. An important difference now, however, is the space agency's current projects don't enjoy the same widespread popularity of the Apollo program in the 1960s. Helm said the disinterest stems from the program's evolvement to a point where space exploration is commonplace. Those guys got recognized like they were movie stars. Despite the low profile of each mission, Helm said the importance of each is crucial to the eventual accomplishment of major goals, like the planned mission to Mars.
Baby steps are hard to see.
Although Helm said she would like to travel to Mars, she might be too old when manned missions are scheduled to begin. Such a possibility is not out of the question, however. Earlier this month, U.S. Sen. and Apollo astronaut John Glenn announced he was returning to the space program. From the time of Glenn's Apollo mission, NASA and the University have had a long history of partnerships. The space agency has given grants to University departments like aerospace engineering, physics and astronomy.