For the present, NASA appears to be committed to maintaining its human spaceflight program, whatever the cost. However, in the next decade, it may discover that it does not need human characters to tell compelling stories. Instead of gazing at posters of astronauts, children are now playing with toy models of Mars rovers. The next generation of space adventurers is growing up with the knowledge that one can visit another planet without boarding a spacecraft. Decades from now, when those children are grown-ups, some of them will lead the next great explorations of the solar system. Sitting in quiet control rooms, they will send instructions to far-away probes already launched and make the final adjustment that points us towards the stars.