During his inaugural address, President Donald Trump said he wants 'American astronauts' on Mars. Where does a future Mars mission currently stand?

A collection of Martian rocks could reveal details about potential past life on the Red Planet – but first NASA has to get them back to Earth.

"America is leading humanity back to the Moon, onward to Mars, and into a golden age of space exploration," Nelson wrote,

NASA proposes a faster, cheaper plan to bring Mars samples to Earth, aiming for delivery by the 2030s while cutting costs significantly.

Bill Nelson has stepped down as NASA administrator, ending a half-century of public service. Janet Petro is now the agency's interim chief.

But NASA administrator Bill Nelson said such failures are necessary ... when the planets' orbits will next align. (Earth/Mars "transfer windows," as such periods are known, occur every 26 months.)

Earlier this month, outgoing NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and other agency officials presented two possible plans for the mission, known as Mars Sample Return, for the incoming administration.

"These samples have the potential to change the way we understand Mars, our universe, and – ultimately – ourselves," Nelson said in a statement. To ensure that the goal of returning Mars ...

In a letter to his replacement, outgoing NASA leader Bill Nelson emphasizes the agency’s activities ‘transcend the length of a single administration.’

Departure of Bill Nelson and Pam Melroy ... Free, who has been instrumental in developing NASA’s Moon to Mars architecture and Artemis missions, will now oversee the agency’s 10 center ...

The Houston company is one of nine — including major names like Blue Origin — that received a contract in January.

Leadership changes are happening at NASA as a new administration takes over with promises that making it to Mars is a priority. Janet Petro, the director of the Kennedy Space Center, is now the acting National Aeronautics and Space Administration administrator after Bill Nelson stepped down.