Beginning with a test flight of space capsule Orion on December 4, the plans will eventually see mankind travelling further than ever before.
After testing, Orion will carry people to nearby asteroids by 2025 and should be ready to put human feet on the red planet by the mid-2030s.
On its first flight, Orion will orbit the Earth twice carrying 1,200 sensors. This flight will last around 4 and a half hours before the craft drops into the Pacific Ocean to be collected by a US Navy vessel.
The unmanned test flights will allow NASA to test various aspects of the 4-person capsule such as the launch abort system before committing to manned tests.
NASA held a live webcast to brief the media and public on the gargantuan mission, which will likely be akin to the 1969 moon landing in terms of awesomeness. It will also be the first time since the Apollo missions that a human has gone further than Lower Earth Orbit.
More to follow.