RE: Mankind and Mars; my thoughts.

I'm trying to throw this idea to see how it sticks against other people..

If we have the ability to send a person(s) to mars we are going to do it. But the thing I see hindering progress the most depends on the success on the first attempt to send human(s) to Mars.

In the best possible scenario: we send a astronaut to Mars; they survive; we already have a contingency crew ready to send more people to Mars; Colony is successful; missions continue.

The worst outcome would be that the first attempt to send a human to mars would result in catastrophic failure and loss of life, how badly would that affect progress is the question I think I'm trying to ask.

What strikes me as the most odd is that I truly believe we will try to send a human to mars, and even if it is successful; how habitable/deadly would it really be.