CADY COLEMAN: “The fact that we have a space station in orbit right now, six people living up there - working, doing experiments that we can’t do down here. It makes me very excited about the future.”

President Obama says that future includes plans to send people to the planet Mars, but not anytime soon. Charles Bolden is the head of the space agency. He recently spoke about efforts to reach Mars, including a program called MAVEN – the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution Mission.

CHARLES BOLDEN: “The missions currently at Mars, the Mars Science Laboratory on its way, and MAVEN - well into development - will provide many years of data to help us understand the red planet and our needs in future years to meet the president’s challenge to send humans to Mars in the mid-twenty-thirties.”

BOB DOUGHTY: American scientists have already used a number of devices -- landers, orbiters and rovers – to gather details about Mars. The Mars Science Laboratory - known as Curiosity - is set to land on the red planet in August. And NASA hopes to launch the MAVEN spacecraft as early as next year.

The United States has no plans to end its exploration of Mars. But it is surely slowing down the speed of that exploration. NASA says the cuts would mean it will not have the money to move forward with what are called “ExoMars” missions. These projects were to be joint efforts between NASA and the European Space Agency.