--- title: NASA’s Chief: ‘Survival Of Human Race’ Depends On Mission To Mars description: NASA administrator Charles F. Bolden grabbed the public's attention after speaking at the Humans 2 Mars Summit. canonical: https://time.com/76178/nasa-chief-humanitys-future-depends-on-mission-to-mars/ author: TIME Video article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-04-24T20:07:48.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T07:29:22.093Z article:section: Science og:title: NASA’s Chief: Survival Of Human Race Depends On Mission To Mars og:description: NASA administrator Charles F. Bolden grabbed the public's attention after speaking at the Humans 2 Mars Summit. og:url: https://time.com/76178/nasa-chief-humanitys-future-depends-on-mission-to-mars/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteeeaf5f7d805c6f4/69868c6935ba6fd3abc01b2d/nasa-1280x720.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1280 og:image:height: 720 og:image:alt: NASA_Chief og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: NASA’s Chief: Survival Of Human Race Depends On Mission To Mars twitter:description: NASA administrator Charles F. Bolden grabbed the public's attention after speaking at the Humans 2 Mars Summit. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteeeaf5f7d805c6f4/69868c6935ba6fd3abc01b2d/nasa-1280x720.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # NASA Chief: Humanity's Future Depends On Mission To Mars by [TIME Video](https://time.com/author/time-video/) ## TIME Video Apr 24, 2014 8:07 PM UTC  Charles Bolden at the Humans to Mars Summit 2014 April 22, 2014 Charles Bolden at the Humans to Mars Summit 2014 April 22, 2014Win McNamee—Getty Images by [TIME Video](https://time.com/author/time-video/) ## TIME Video Apr 24, 2014 8:07 PM UTC NASA administrator Charles F. Bolden grabbed the public’s attention at the [Humans 2 Mars Summit](http://h2m2014.exploremars.org%20) laying out a multi-billion dollar plan to get humans on the surface of Mars by 2030. “If this species is to survive indefinitely, we need to become a multi-planet species,” Bolden said. The public doesn’t think that’s unlikely. A poll funded by Explore Mars and Boeing showed that 75% believe that people will land on Mars by 2033\. Chris Carberry, executive director of Explore Mars, said “The survey results suggest Americans are ready for a renewed dedication to exploring the solar system.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/76178/nasa-chief-humanitys-future-depends-on-mission-to-mars/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/76178/nasa-chief-humanitys-future-depends-on-mission-to-mars/"},"headline":"NASA Chief: Humanity's Future Depends On Mission To Mars","datePublished":"2014-04-24T20:07:48.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T07:29:22.093Z","description":"NASA administrator Charles F. Bolden says it's vital we become a \"multi-planet species\"","url":"https://time.com/76178/nasa-chief-humanitys-future-depends-on-mission-to-mars/","keywords":["NASA","Space","Mars","future"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteeeaf5f7d805c6f4/69868c6935ba6fd3abc01b2d/nasa-1280x720.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Video","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-video/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteeeaf5f7d805c6f4/69868c6935ba6fd3abc01b2d/nasa-1280x720.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"NASA_Chief","caption":"Charles Bolden at the Humans to Mars Summit 2014 April 22, 2014","creditText":"Win McNamee—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/nasa/","name":"NASA"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/76178/nasa-chief-humanitys-future-depends-on-mission-to-mars/","name":"NASA Chief: Humanity's Future Depends On Mission To Mars"}}]}] ```