From Christian Davenport: Living on Mars is like living on top of Mount Everest. No, it’s like living inside Chernobyl on the top of Mount Everest, given the high levels of radiation. Mars represents such an unfathomable challenge that writers such as Homer Hickam, the former NASA official and author of “Rocket Boys,” once wrote an essay titled, “A Myth Known as Mars (Psst, NASA’s not going there, pass it on.)” Even Elon Musk, who founded SpaceX with the purpose of getting to Mars, doesn't sugar coat the difficulties and once told me that "probably people will die "on the first trips to Mars. Which is why you're exactly right -- NASA wants to go to the moon first and learn how to live there before going all the way to Mars. Mars is the horizon goal that could come at some point. But NASA -- and SpaceX -- are set on going to the moon first.