The CEV will be used for LEO and Moon missions, maybe even jaunts to NEOs, but you can't tell me that people will be traveling to Mars in small cramped capsules. The radiation hazards alone will prevent this from happening. It offers absolutely no protection to the crew from the hazards of deep space.

Nasa had the right approach to space travel, they simply bungled the implementation of it. Infrastructure must be built and put into place one step at a time if space is going to be opened up on any large scale. Flimsy single use hardware is a dead end street. What we need is robust and sturdy equipment and ships that can handle the rigors of space and give crews enough protection to allow them to live safely in space.

The key to all of this is a multipurpose and flexible launch system. A system that can be configured to launch anywhere from 10 tons to 200 tons to LEO. IMO, the Russian Energia launcher is a great starting point. It is very flexible and can be configured for a wide range of launch needs. The core stage can be used alone for a medium/heavy launcher. It can have four or more booster rockets used with it to turn it into a heavy/super heavy launcher. The booster rockets can be used alone as light launchers in their own right.

The Energia is also constructed to carry payloads both on top of the stack as well as piggyback. This improves its flexibility even more. By having such a launch system as the foundation of a space program, all of the necessary infrastructure needed to support a robust and expansive space program can be put into place.