If the human species wants to survive, grow, and be better then we need to start expanding to our planets.  It's really that simple. And there are a good amount of super-rich people that think the same. Enter Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Richard Branson. 

When it comes to the space race the conversation begins with the end goal. Colonizing Mars. I think there are about six steps to colonizing mars if I were to break this down in the most simplistic way possible.

1)    The biggest issue. And btw every time we reach a new step it will be the biggest issue. Anyways it's all about getting there. The technology, the duration of the flight, our spacecraft good enough, and the list goes on with the myriad of problems from construction a space ship, lift off, flying 235.54 million miles, and landing safely. Like that undertaking alone is absolutely insane for where humans collectively are now. 

a.    Fortunately there are a few companies out there and countries that really want to do this. SpaceX, Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic, The Chinese, the Russians, the EU, and of course the U.S.A. we’ll cover more specifics of each of these later.  

b.    The point being, it's going to happen. The tech will get there, the spacecraft will get there, and there are humans that want to go. Musk remains “highly confident” that SpaceX will land humans on Mars by 2026, saying last December that it's an achievable goal “about six years from now.” He added that SpaceX plans to send a Starship rocket without a crew “in two years.”

2)    Next, Building infrastructure:

a.    Transportation: more than just humans, stuff to build and building in less gravity (38% of earth's gravity) and .13% oxygen compared to earth. And then there’s constructing buildings. New building tech will need to be created

3) Self-Sufficient: ...