NASA’s Journey to Mars News Briefing
On Dec. 2, two days before the launch of the Orion spacecraft’s first flight test (Exploration Flight Test-1), NASA held a news briefing, with participants at Kennedy Space Center and NASA Headquarters in Washington, to discuss the agency’s Journey to Mars and the critical role Orion’s flight test plays in the endeavor.
China will be on Mars long before the US.
If the Nixon administration didn't cancel Apollo, and then NASA focus on the Space Shuttle so much, then we would've been to Mars 20 years ago or more.