Just as the title says.
China. The US has shown no interest in space travel beyond low orbits in more than four decades, and I can’t see a resurgence of it now in these religiously science-phobic times. China won’t be happy with just the moon (since those crazy Americans did it, too), and Mars is the next obvious step (although I’d personally be WAY more impressed by a manned colony on, say, Venus).
Strange that its the conservatives who most strongly favour a manned Mars landing. I haven’t seen a single opponent of space exploration because of religious reasons. Typical strawmanning.
Haw haw, TimeWinder. You answered the opinion poll wrong! Better luck next time, bro-seph.
Well, I voted for never a landing on Mars, but it’s mostly just because I think it would be a huge waste of money.
Interesting that you use the word “strawmanning” in a post that completely misstates what I said. Anyway, sorry I answered your poll wrong, I’ll go away and let you draw your pre-ordained conclusion now.
The aliens will come and take select representatives of mankind to Mars for a do-over, while wiping humanity off the face of the Earth.
Tragically, they really don’t get the idea of “gender” and take an all male sample.
This will suck in many, many ways.
I volunteer! 
I voted “Multinational team”, but that doesn’t imply that the US will be a part. It could be a Sino-Russian expedition, a Sino-Indian one, or even a Sino-European one. Admitedly the first combo is alot more likely than the other two.
I’m gonna vote China.
As far as space flight goes, they have the advantages of dictatorship, so they can spend lots of money and not have to care about losing the next election as a result. The same thing that let the USSR put so much effort into space.
While having the advantage of a capitalist economy. Meaning more money.
China on the moon around 2025. On Mars around 2040.
My second vote would be for an international effort which would probably be a mix of EU+US+Japan.
I voted China, but I think if the Chinese get a moon base first the space race with the US will start back up again.
John Carter, of course.
I voted for Russia, cause it looked lonely.
+1
Putting a man on the Moon was a way of poking the Russians in the eye with the biggest pointiest stick ever. What’s the reason for going to Mars?
I voter never, but my “Never” I should clarify that I don’t think it will happen within the lifetimes of anyone who reads this thread. Given that the OP is 14 years old, that is potentially damned close to a hundred years, but it’s my odds on bet.
Presently the mission is just too hideously expensive to mount. It’s technically possible but the political will exists nowhere to do it, not even in China, a country I think is going to have some setbacks in the next few decades.
It will take a lot more tecnhological and economic advancement for a mission to Mars to be politically, economically, and logistically feasible. So my money’s on us never seeing it.
If I am wrong, it’ll still be decades away… and here’s the thing; there is no way to predict what country will be positioned to do it that far into the future. Nobody in this thread can predict with any authority who the biggest dog will be in 2050.
I think Qin must be 16 by now. I think it will be China or India, with an outside chance of it being Brazil.
Tough call. The US certainly has not only the most space exploration experience but also the most direct knowledge about Mars with some fairly successful robotic expeditions to the Red Planet under their belt. I suspect that NASA is still the undisputed master of robotic exploration. They also have some pretty wild and edgy propulsion theories and a budding private-sector space industry to draw from. Unfortunately (currently, at least) they don’t seem to have the political will or the cash to dedicate themselves to a mission. A mission that would make moon look like heading out to the lake for a picnic.
China (and the others) certainly have the will, and possibly the money. They went in with Russia on a Mars satellite that is suppose to go up this year. They are still only really floating capsules around the Earth though. It would take A LOT of effort for them to do this solo or even with another developing country partner. I feel that (IMHO) such a mission would be far more riskier for an economy/country that is not yet fully developed and is facing a plethora of other issues at on the earthly level.
Multinational would probably be the most appropriate. But good luck getting the relevant actors to cooperate.
Other.
I think a state financed manned mission to Mars is a lot less likely than a privately funded, one-way mission done on the cheap with a mission satement no more complicated than that used by mountain climbers of yore: “Because it’s There!”
According to my Space:1999 tech manual Anton Borkov was the first man on Mars, in 1981.
Boy, so would I, but I think the 90 atmospheres of pressure, the 900 deg F temps, and the carbon dioxide/sulfuric acid/chlorine air might make it a little tough.