Writer:	Aaron Sorkin, Kevin Falls
Director:	Alex Graves
Star:	Martin Sheen (President Jed Bartlet),  Dulé Hill (Charlie Young),  Allison Janney (Claudia Jean "C.J." Cregg),  Rob Lowe (Sam Seaborn (Episodes 1-84)),  Richard Schiff (Toby Ziegler),  John Spencer (Leo McGarry),  Bradley Whitford (Josh Lyman),  Janel Moloney (Donna Moss (Episodes 23-, recurring previously))
Recurring Role:	Melissa Fitzgerald (Carol Fitzpatrick),  Kathryn Joosten (Delores Landingham),  Nicole Robinson (Margaret),  Allison Smith (Mallory O'Brien)
Guest Star:	Molly Schaffer (Staffer),  Tom Hall (Mike),  Matthew Dickens (Benny),  John Leslie Wolfe (Man #2),  Steve Shih (Man #1),  Ann Lim (Staff Aide),  Nina Hodoruk (Military Aide),  Nigel Gibbs (Aide #2),  Duffy Epstein (Aide #1),  Colm Feore (Tad Whitney),  Charlotte Cornwell (Nadia Kozlowski),  John Carroll Lynch (Jack Reese),  Troy Ruptash (Scott Tate)

Awards and Nominations:
Allison Janney won the 2001 Emmy in the category of Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her performance in this episode and in "In the Shadow of Two Gunmen: Part 2"

This episode in conjunction with several others from the season won The West Wing the 2001 Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series (Aaron Sorkin, Thomas Schlamme, John Wells, Kevin Falls, Michael Hissrich, Lawrence O'Donnell, Jr., Kristin Harms, Llewellyn Wells).
(edit)

Mallory: And we went to the moon. Do we really have to go to Mars?
Sam: Yes.
Mallory: Why?
Sam: Because it's next. For we came out of the cave, and we looked over the hill, and we saw fire. And we crossed the ocean, and we pioneered the West, and we took to the sky. The history of man is hung on the timeline of exploration, and this is what's next. (edit) C.J.: Everyone's stupid in an election year, Charlie.
Charlie: No, everyone gets treated stupid in an election year, C.J. (edit) Bartlet: Modern music sucks. Anything written after 1860 sucks.
Charlie: Samuel Barber's Symphony No. 2.
Bartlet: Sucks.
Charlie: Stravinsky's Variations on a Theme.
Bartlet: Sucks.
Charlie: Schoenberg's Enlightened Night for String Orchestra.
Bartlet: Totally blows! (edit)

The episode focuses on a "Galileo 5" mission to Mars. In fact, there was just one Galileo mission, to Jupiter and its main satellites. (edit) Leo McGarry tells the President of Iceland's Ambassador, Vigdis Olafsdottir, that "he's very excited to meet you." But Icelandic surnames are formed from the father's first name plus "-son" or "-dottir", so a name finishing in "dottir" is always a woman's name. Also, Vigdis is a female forename. (edit) FYI, if an Icelandic woman has a child out of wedlock, or the father's name is simply unknown, it is permitted to use the mother's first name to form the child's surname. (edit)

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