50 years since the first man on the Moon -- how many to the first on Mars?

Phoenix lands on Mars. (NASA art)

It was an event which everyone more than a few years old at the time will remember -- publicity, discussion, school projects for months before it happened and then a listen to the radio for the live commentary on the actual landing.

The Moon, however, is only a 3 day hop from Earth -- the next celestial body deserving a manned landing is about 9 months away and a return mission involves years, not a couple of weeks. But there are those who think it can happen within the next 10 years.

There's plenty of pics and info about it on the net, but a concise summary is here.