NASA's Chief Bolden, "U.S. astronauts won't land on Mars by themselves but with international partners...

[SatNews] Strong opinions generate strong responses, and with that...

"U.S. astronauts won't land on Mars by themselves but with international partners in the 2030s, NASA's chief said Wednesday. "I have no desire to do a Mars landing on our own," Bolden said. "The U.S. cannot always be the leader, but we can be the inspirational leader through international cooperation" in space exploration. Obama administration plans are for the $17.7 billion space agency to land an astronaut on an asteroid in 2025, then go to Mars by the middle of the 2030s."

By the way, today's news regarding Curiosity on Mars... (From NASA's site here.)

Curiosity, the car-size, one-ton rover is bound for arrival on Mars at 1:31 a.m., EDT on Monday, Aug. 6. The landing will mark the beginning of a two-year prime mission to investigate one of the most intriguing places on Mars.

Curiosity remains in good health, with no significant issues currently in work. There are no real-time activities planned today.

The Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft remains on a consistent and stable course, well within the limits required to reach its target landing ellipse. As a result, yesterday the flight team decided to cancel the build and test of a contingency version of Trajectory Correction Maneuver 5. This contingency maneuver, had it been needed, would have been used in the event an emergency prevented the team from executing the nominal scheduled TCM-5 maneuver, which is planned for Friday, Aug. 3, if needed.

The project also canceled a corresponding update to parameters for the autonomous software controlling events during entry, descent and landing.