In 1969, Werner von Braun, the man behind the Apollo program and Saturn V, presented a plan to put American astronauts on Mars by 1982. Nuclear powered vehicles would be built in Earth orbit and launched to Mars in 1981. The mission would take 2 years from launch to return. Unfortunately, the Mars program would have required doubling of NASA budget by 1974. The program proposal was not pursued by NASA. The original presentation is provided below.
