Photos: NASA road to Mars

BEIJING, April 16 (Xinhuanet) -- U.S. President Barack Obama outlined his administration's new space exploration plan Thursday. Obama said by 2025 he expects U.S. space exploration to reach beyond the moon and farther into the solar system's reaches, adding that he is aiming to send U.S. astronauts into Mars orbit by the mid-2030s.

Following are some historical photos marking the progress NASA made during its road to the red planet:

U.S. spacecraft detects buried glaciers on Mars

This undated handout is a NASA illustration of one of its two six-wheeled rovers, Opportunity and Spirit, operating on the surface of Mars,  searching for geological evidence about water in the bygone Martial  environment. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

This image provided by NASA Thursday, July 31, 2008 combines more than  400 images taken during the first several weeks after NASA's Phoenix  Mars Lander arrived on Mars. The center of the image is the westward  part of the scene. Trenches where Phoenix's robotic arm has been  exposing subsurface material are visible in the right half of the image. The spacecraft's meteorology mast, topped by the telltale wind gauge,  extends into the sky portion of the panorama. (Xinhua/AFP Photo)

Obama outlines new U.S. space exploration plan

U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday outlined his administration's new space exploration plan, vowing to increase NASA's budget by six billion dollars over the next five years. Full Story>>