This is one thing that I can agree on with Obama. Private companies will have a viable replacement rocket and human rated capsule up and running before NASA ever gets anything done. Turn ISS missions over to the private sector. They’ll do it better and cheaper.
I also agree that scrapping the shuttle’s replacement is a good idea. Manned spaceflight is not necessary for the development of space-based defense systems. Further, private industry can do manned space flight more cheaply and can innovate more quickly. Because the gov’t has been involved we’ve had to keep the shuttle going despite the fact that it’s basically ‘70s technology shoved into a school bus with wings.
As for going to Mars, let’s not waste the money for idle curiousity. The distance, the constant exposure to cosmic radiation, the dust microns in the thin Martian atmosphere, etc. make any prolonged human stay on the Martian surface risky beyond any feasible benefit. If the Chicoms or russkies want to put the first corpses on Mars, let them.