"Perhaps one day a student selected for the Red Rover Goes To Mars project will become one of the first astronauts to actually land on Mars itself, " Glenn said.

CNN: Space Day 1999

Project members believe that one day people will be going to Mars.

BBC: Destination Mars on Earth

Cameron said everyone should sit up and take notice of the ISS, which he said was an extraordinary project and one he hoped would be a stepping stone to Mars.

BBC: Titanic director aims for the skies

"We will get a perspective that no one has seen before, of a spacecraft doing its final descent onto the Mars surface, " said deputy project scientist Ashwin Vasavada.

WSJ: Mars Mission Seeks a Happy Landing