Jim wrote in message . ..
I couldn't believe my ears as I listened to Andy Rooney on CBS' news
program "60 Minutes" last night so I checked on the official program
transcript and there it was in black and white.

In a segment titled "Ground Control To Mr. Bush", Andy Rooney revealed
that

" Space exploration hasn't produced much for us except some good
pictures."

and

"The moon is like a trip to the mall compared with going to Mars. The
moon is 250,000 miles away. Mars is 35 million miles. Scientists have
said that it would probably be a one-way trip for whoever made it,
because gravity on Mars is so strong that it would be impossible to
bring along enough fuel for them to take off and return to Earth.
Anyone going there might never come back. This makes the trip to Mars
by President Bush especially attractive to Democrats."

Actually, an Atlas rocket should have enough fuel to escape Mars's
gravitational pull and dock with the space shuttle orbiter.
The space shuttle orbiters are sufficient for a trip to Mars and
back, including the Atlas rocket needed to land and take off from the
surface of Mars. the only thing needed is a booster system which could
take the space shuttle orbiter and its contents on a trajectory to
Mars.


Michael