This paper discusses the "Athena" mission, a concept for an initial piloted mission to Mars that could be launched at low cost in the very near future. Athena is a double flyby, which uses two Mars gravity assist maneuvers to allow a round trip Mars mission to be performed with a single minimum energy trans-Mars injection burn. Science exploration is accomplished by taking advantage of human intelligence in the vicinity of Mars for extended periods to remotely operate rovers, balloons, or aircraft on the Martian surface with short signal time delays. This paper discusses the trajectory and vehicle designs required to accomplish the Athena mission, modes of science exploration that it enables, and provides an estimate for total mission cost. In addition, the programmatic value of using such a minimal piloted mission to initiate human Mars exploration is also discussed.