NASA's Plan...Supposedly

http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/future-nasa-rocket-to-1181023.html

NASA has dreamed up the world's most powerful rocket,

The multibillion-dollar program will carry astronauts in a capsule on top, but the first mission would be 10 years off if all goes as planned. Unmanned test launches are expected from Cape Canaveral, Fla., in six years.

the "largest, most powerful rocket built,"

Even the smallest early prototype of the rocket will have 10 percent more thrust than the Saturn V

When it is built to its fuller size, it will be 20 percent more powerful,

The size, shape and heavier reliance on liquid fuel as opposed to solid rocket boosters is much closer to Apollo than the recently retired space shuttles,

The idea is to launch its first unmanned test flight in 2017 with the first crew flying in 2021 and astronauts heading to a nearby asteroid in 2025, the officials said. From there, NASA hopes to send the rocket and astronauts to Mars — at first just to circle, but then later landing on the Red Planet — in the 2030s.

Eventually it will be able to carry 143 tons into space, maybe even 165 tons

By comparison, the long-dormant Saturn V booster that sent men to the moon was able to lift 130 tons.

the space shuttle, which could haul just 27 tons

During its initial test flights the rocket will use five solid rocket boosters designed for the shuttle strapped on its outside and will have shuttle main engines powering it on the inside. But soon after that the solid rocket boosters will be replaced with new boosters that should have new technology and may be either liquid or solid, the officials said