My view is that we should go back to the moon, build up the infrastructure to make flights there commonplace - be comfortable with it - then use that infrastructure to expand and go to Mars.
People say, 'Did you violate Heaven?' Well, God is down here, too. If you believe in God, you believe in God here as well as 240,000 miles away.
I could put my thumb up to a window and completely hide the Earth. I thought, 'Everything I've ever known is behind my thumb.'
In space-flight terms, six landings on the moon back in the Sixties and Seventies doesn't mean much.
Mars is a long ways away. The moon is only 240,000 miles, but Mars is in the millions. It's too risky without spending more time going to the moon.
The moon is essentially gray, no color; looks like plaster of Paris or sort of a grayish beach sand.
