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Posted by: Ron Giesecke

Looks like those pesky Russians are planning on landing a comrade on Mars within the next seventeen or so years.

Russia is leading the race to complete a manned mission to Mars and could land a Russian on the Red Planet by 2025, a leading scientist was quoted as saying on Tuesday.

"We have something of a head start in this race as we have the most experience in piloted space flight," the director of the prestigious Space Research Institute, Lev Zelyony, told Interfax news agency on Tuesday.

The goal of becoming the first country to land a human on Mars is "technically and economically achievable" by 2025, he said.

It occurs to me that in a race to a distant planet, a God-less regime would always prevail against a society that still acknowledges Him (at least in form, anyway). Why? because the latter would have the burden of bringing their traveler back. I, for one believe the Russian space program fusses not about such "trivialities."

And if anyone thinks such a conundrum will be the sticking point to launch schedule, well . . . let's just say the man going better take out a really good life insurance policy, with the "causation" clauses fully and legally vetted. That's all I'm saying.