Humanity will start heading out into the solar system soon, ie the next hundred years. It will mainly be done with robots though some humans will be out there too. The push will be resources and earning a profit.
NASA sent a probe named "Voyager" into the outer reaches of the solar system in the 70's and there have been several since. These missions have been scientific marvels, though the average person is not overly interested hence the indifferent media coverage.
NASA knows from experience that public interest can only be gained by a "Manned" mission. That public interest is brief. In 1969 the western world hung on a knifedge when a Saturn 5 rocket vehicle, still the most awesome device known to man, blasted 3 dudes to the moon. Two years later the launch of Apollo 13 got dragged from TV for poor ratings.
The Apollo program was a staggering achievment and proof of what can be done when the stakes are high enough. In the end it was only ever about sticking it to the Russians. Early on the program was plagued with incompetence and ineptidude. Then 3 blokes got barbequed in the capsule of Apollo 1. This tragedy was the turning point that rallied the resolve of everyone involved. the result that is now history.
The USA spent 20% of their GPD getting Apollo 11 to the moon and back and 90% of that was what it cost to find ways to keep humans alive long enough to make it back to Earth. We all enjoy a lot of the technology that has evolved from that program but at the end of the day machines can do anything in space a human can do for a whole lot cheaper and there's never any bad news to break to any families.
