<"People will one day step on Mars but perhaps not for hundreds of years, says an Apollo astronaut. David Scott....."

I think we can safely apply Clarke's first law here....

"When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong."

I know just enough about Apollo to know that he was a positive influence on the science yield from the missions and I'm sure he's a brave, heroic pilot but i'm not gonna accept this casual dismissal. Not cause I really REALLY wan't to go and I can't clearly percieve reality wihtout that possibility. Rather, I don't believe that he has the ability to know and judge with any greater certainty that Einstein had when he was extremely sceptical of the Copenhagen interpretation of Quantum Mechanics.

He may be right but hundreds of years? If human civilization doesn't fall, I think it's safe to assume we'll be there well before then. But don't listen to me, make up your own mind.