The first human mars mission?

As the reply posts to an earlier post stated there has been no metal
bent for a Mars mission, or even the crew short listed. Has there
been any preliminary designs on the lander craft, or how it's going to
get to Mars yet, or has the total work done on a Mars mission been
restricted to the work done by the Mars Society, with NASA
contributing nothing as yet except for some pretty animated movies,
and pretty pictures of martian astronouts on Mars?


Christopher
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
"Kites rise highest against
the wind - not with it."
Winston Churchill