After being fired by Scrooge, Launchpad enters the space program, and he and Doofus accidentally get sent to Mars. Can the two survive the natives and get back to Earth — without furthering the Martian king's attack plans?
This episode contains examples of the following tropes:
- 0% Approval Rating: Nobody on Mars really likes Ping, including his own mother, and only obey him because he was the Emperor. They're glad to see him go when he's taken away by the DASA probe and proclaim DASA's chimp as their new ruler.
- Captain Ersatz: Ping the Pitiless is a spoof of Flash Gordon villain Ming the Merciless.
- Chased Off into the Sunset: Scrooge pursued Launchpad after Launchpad crashed a spaceship right into Scrooge's swimming pool.
- Dunking the Bomb: Doofus looks up in the Junior Woodchuck Guidebook how to disarm a Martian bomb inside of a rocket. The solution given is to douse it with water. Launchpad crashes in Scrooge's pool.
- Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Averted. After Launchpad accidentally stows away on a space probe that lands on Mars, the tyrannical ruler of the planet, Emperor Ping the Pitiless has him arrested and thrown in prison. While there, he meets an old woman who claims she was arrested for jaywalking. This makes Launchpad angry, and he says he'd bet Ping would "throw his own mother in the slammer". To which the old woman replies, "I am his mother."
- Fluffy the Terrible: Ping has a scary but unseen pet called Spot.
- Heroic BSoD: Launchpad is hit hard with the news that the heads of DASA only selected him as a candidate because they were convinced he was absolutely stupid. (They wanted an idiot to test an idiot-proof shuttle.)
- Herr Doktor: The head of DASA has a German accent.
- Medals for Everyone: Launchpad gets rewarded for saving Earth from an attack from Mars at the end of the episode. He makes sure Doofus gets some of the credit as well, for being such an encouraging partner.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Ping the Pitiless is not a friendly name.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The rocket Launchpad and Doofus steal to get back to Earth happens to be one equipped with a bomb the Martians were planning to launch at Earth. Ping is gleeful when he figures this out, but the two discover their mistake midway through the trip and successfully fix it.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: DASA is based on NASA.
- Shout-Out:
- The episode title is a reference to The Right Stuff.
- Launchpad, demanding One Phone Call, says, "Even E.T. got to phone home!"
- When Ping hears the DASA probe is headed to Pluto, he says, "I hate dogs!"
- Throwing Out the Script: At the end of the episode, when Launchpad is being thanked for saving the Earth from the Martians, he pulls out a set of papers with a speech on them, but then changes his mind and tears it up, going for a more on-the-fly address.
- Trap Door: Ping opens the trap door whenever he wants to "feed" Spot.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: In-Universe. DASA's (non-anthropomorphic) chimp astronaut is sent into space in the middle of the episode, and at the end, the head of DASA wonders what became of him. It turned out he landed on Mars and took over Ping's position as the Martians' ruler.
