Proposed One-Way Mars Exploration Program "Spirit of the Lone Eagle"

Didn't I see a Doctor Who episode just like this? The Doctor must defeat the head of the space program, who turns out to be the Marquis de Sade doing a Doctor Strangelove-flavored Werner Von Braun impression?

One of the most memorable scenes is the one where the Doctor and his companion sit down to dinner with the villain and debate literature. Suspicions are aroused when the villain laments the unhappy ending of Apollo 13. "Why couldn't it have been more like The Perfect Storm?"

In the end the guy is stalked and killed by the spectral ghost of Laika the dog.

Interesting bit: "Americans forget that Apollo succeeded in large part because the country knew that sending humans to the Moon within the short time frame of ten years would be exciting, difficult, dangerous, and perhaps even impossible." This mission is exactly the kind of risk-taking we should be encouraging.