This article in The Smart Set, a Drexel University online magazine, paints a political picture of the U.S. space program beginning with President Kennedy's Rice Stadium speech to when we landed colonists on Mars, according to Ray Bradbury's vision from The Martian Chronicles. Ray Bradbury's vision of space travel is the lens of the article. Bradbury feels that the romance of space travel is the ideal motivator, but which is quickly dashed by the realities. Will we find life on Mars? Bradbury was asked:

“We just don’t know. It doesn’t matter, because we’re going to become the Martians when we land there. When we explore and build communities, we become the Martians. That’s a wonderful destiny for all of us.”