I think that another - and I think more important - answer is that the capital class finally regained control. They chaffed for decades under the limits imposed after they destroyed the worldwide economy in the early 20th century, and spent the second half of the 20th century and the start of the 21st systematically removing constraints.
When IBM senior management was asked by a staff member for data supporting their RTO policy one of the managers literally said, "I've managed teams before. I don't need data."
Since Mars is one of the bodies in the solar system that might support life, I think that it's morally wrong to send humans there. That will contaminate Mars.
We have plenty of work to do colonizing the moon and asteroids. Let's wait a few hundred years until we have done really, really thorough investigation of Mars before potentially wiping out tue alien life that might be there.
Like firing black people, women, and LGBT+ folks from the military, it's one more step to ensuring that when Republicans order political violence there will be nobody who refuses.
Need more JPEG!