"He awoke — and wanted Mars."
That's the first line of Philip K. Dick's classic novella, "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale," the inspiration for the "Total Recall" films. I first came across the story in a sci-fi anthology back in high school, and I can remember the force of the yearning the words roused in me: I wanted Mars, too. After all, men had just walked on the moon and everybody knew Mars would be next.
Well, the moon landing will be celebrating its 50th anniversary in two years, and human beings haven't even tried to walk anywhere else. So when Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk announced Friday that he hopes to send a manned mission to the red planet by 2022 I felt my heart leap.