“It's a wise idea” to be sent to the man on Mars

Astronaut Bill Anders, pilot in the lunaar module of Apollo 8, the first butterflies with people coming out of the orbit of the earth, said sending the man to Mars is “almost ridiculous” His comments concern NASA's warnings that he is planning missions on Mars.

In an interview with BBC Radio 5, 85-year-old Anders said he is a major supporter of programmes without people, because they have a much smaller cost, to add that public support does not mean NASA will have to finance missions with people with high costs. “Which is the trigger? What is it that makes us go to Mars? I don't think the public is interested in this”, said Anders, who accused NASA is solid.

“NASA has become an employment programme, many of the centres are mainly interested in being busy, for which public support is lacking, workers receive their salary and re-election of their congressional”, he said. In December 1968, Anders and crew members Frank Borman and Jim Lovell completed 10 orbits around the moon.

Apollo 8's crew spent 20 hours in orbit before returning to Earth. It was the most distant distance man had ever gone outside of their planet, setting the stage for the moon's historic landing from Apollo 11 months later.