Italian joke about engineers, doctors and lawyers

Il Capo della NASA deve scegliere - fra tre persone - chi vuole andare a fare un pericoloso viaggio su Marte. Chiede per primo ad un ingegnere: "Quanto vuoi per fare questo rischioso volo?" "Voglio 5 milioni, così posso fare una donazione per prevenire gli incidenti sui cantieri". Domanda poi al secondo, un medico. "E tu, che somma desideri?" "10 milioni, di cui metà per la mia famiglia ed il resto per la lotta al cancro". Infine pone al domanda al terzo, un AVVOCATO. Il professionista risponde sussurrandogli all'orecchio:"Dammi 15 milioni". "Perchè così tanto?" domanda il Capo. "Beh, bisbiglia il legale, se scegli me ti regalo 5 milioni, mi tengo altri 5 milioni come parcella e con i restanti 5 milioni MANDIAMO SU MARTE L'INGEGNERE!"

The NASA Director must choose between three people who want to make a dangerous journey to Mars. First the engineer is asked: "How much do you want if you make this risky flight?" "I want 5 million for preventing accidents on construction sites." Then the physician answers: "10 million, of which half for my family and the rest to fight cancer." Finally the lawyer whispers in his ear: "Give me 15 million." "Why so much?" asks the Director. "Well," the lawyer whispers to him, "if you choose me I'll give you 5 million, I keep another 5 million as the fee and with the remaining 5 million will send to Mars THE ENGINEER!"

Here is the straight version from a source in English (which seems to have lost a few details in the above translation):

NASA was interviewing professionals to be sent to Mars, and they needed someone very special since only one person could go -- and it was a one-way mission: they'd couldn't return to Earth.

The first applicant, an engineer, was asked why he was most qualified and how much he wanted to be paid.

"I'm an engineer, so the mission would have the most chance for success because I can fix anything that goes wrong. As for pay," he said, "I want a million dollars because I want to donate it to M.I.T."

The next applicant, a doctor, was asked the same question. "I'm a doctor, so I'd be able to keep myself alive to achieve the mission goals. I'd like $2 million: a million to my family, and the rest would be to fund the rest of my work on a technology I just invented that would save thousands of lives."

The last applicant was a lawyer. When asked how much money he wanted, he whispered in the interviewer's ear, "Three million dollars."

"How are you more qualified," asked the interview panel, "and why do you want so much more money?"

"Well," the lawyer replied, "Clearly the doctor is full of himself; if you give me $3 million, I'll give you $1 million, I'll keep $1 million, and we'll send the engineer to Mars."