Instead of planning the retirement of the Space Shuttle program, America should be preparing the shuttles for their next step in space: evolving, not shutting them down and laying off thousands of people.
— Buzz Aldrin
You need propellants to accelerate toward Mars, then to decelerate at Mars, again to re-accelerate from Mars to Earth, and finally to decelerate back at Earth. Accordingly, the mass of these required propellants, in short, drives our need for innovative launch vehicles.
Mars, we know, was once wet and warm. Was it home to life? And what can living and learning to work on its rust-colored surface teach us about the future of our own planet, Earth? Answering those mysteries may hold the key to our future.
I'm sure that there are places in the deserts in Australia that could be similar to where we might want to go on Mars.
Whenever I gaze up at the moon, I feel like I'm on a time machine. I am back to that precious pinpoint of time, standing on the foreboding - yet beautiful - Sea of Tranquility. I could see our shining blue planet Earth poised in the darkness of space.
I want to reach a new generation. That's why I am Twittering now. I have a BlackBerry, an iPhone and a Mac.
For the future, primarily, we must educate people in science, engineering, technology and math.
Bringing an asteroid back to Earth? What's that have to do with space exploration? If we were moving outward from there, and an asteroid is a good stopping point, then fine. But now it's turned into a whole planetary defense exercise at the cost of our outward exploration.
Every couple of years, we could dispatch people from Earth to Mars.
Tang sucks.
I am excited to think that the development of commercial capabilities to send humans into low Earth orbit will likely result in so many more Earthlings being able to experience the transformative power of space flight.
If you want poets in space, you'll have to wait.
Pascal Lee is a true pioneer of Mars exploration.
Astronauts are not superhuman. They lead ordinary lives and have varied personalities.
The way I see it, commercial interests should manage a lunar base while NASA gets on with the really important task of flying to Mars.
Growing up, I was fascinated with Buck Rogers' airplanes. As I began to mature in World War II, it became jets and rocket planes. But it was always in the air.
My Sunday mornings are spent in a recovery meeting in Pacific Palisades.
As we reflect back upon the tragic loss of Challenger and her brave crew of heroes who were aboard that fateful day, I am reminded that they truly represented the best of us, as they climbed aloft on a plume of propellant gasses, reaching for the stars, to inspire us who were Earthbound.
NASA needs to focus on the things that are really important and that we do not know how to do. The agency is a pioneering force, and that is where its competitive advantage lies.
America's can-do spirit cast a warm glow across nations and cultures, generating more goodwill and support for our country's ideals and causes than had otherwise been possible.
To move forward, what's required is a unified space agenda based on exploration, science, development, commerce, and security.
My first biography written in '73 was not 'Journey To The Moon.' It was 'Return To Earth.' Because for me, that was the more difficult task - disappointment.
Mars is much closer to the characteristics of Earth. It has a fall, winter, summer and spring. North Pole, South Pole, mountains and lots of ice. No one is going to live on Venus; no one is going to live on Jupiter.
Look at what Silicon Valley has done - the advance of computers.
It was interesting to think that the very first liquid ever poured on the Moon, and the first food eaten there, were communion elements.
Kids, help your parents if they don't know how to use a smartphone.
'Anthony and the Magic Picture Frame' tells it like it really was in America's early space program - the adventure, the risks, and the rewards.
Ray Bradbury is one who is contributing to the understanding of the imagination and the curiosity of the human race.
I have no intention of selling any more of the historical Apollo 11 items in my possession for the remainder of my life. I intend to pass a portion of these items on to my children and to loan the most important items for permanent display in suitable museums around the country.
You can never tell when a commercial space venture will suddenly become viable.
Like actors and writers who are on and off again in terms of employment, I had a very unstructured life.
I do celebrity ski races all over the world.
My expertise is the space program and what it should be in the future based on my experience of looking at the transitions that we've made between pre-Sputnik days and getting to the moon.
I inherited depression from my mother's side of the family.
One of the major problems with long-term deep space human flight is the requirement for radiation shielding.
Space architectures capable of supporting a permanent human presence on Mars are extraordinarily complex, with many different interdependent systems.
Mars has a bit of air pressure; maybe we can build up that atmosphere to be a bit more accommodating to humans.
Mars has been flown by, orbited, smacked into, radar inspected, and rocketed onto, as well as bounced upon, rolled over, shoveled, drilled into, baked, and even laser blasted.
My father's an early aviator, and my first flight was with him at age two. Now, despite the fact that I got sick on the flight, I still enjoyed it, I believe.
We could have human intelligence in orbit around Mars, building things there.
In Mars, we've been given a wonderful set of moons... where we can send continuous numbers of people.
I grew up in a country that I thought was special. And it was.
I feel we need to remind the world about the Apollo missions and that we can still do impossible things.
If we can conquer space, we can conquer childhood hunger.
Trips to Mars, the Moon, even orbit, will require that we provide astrotourists with as many comforts from home as possible, including paying each other.
It's time to open the space frontier to citizen explorers.
When I was a little kid, we only knew about our nine planets. Since then, we've downgraded Pluto but have discovered that other solar systems and stars are common. So life is probably quite prevalent.
You are not going to change the minds of people who are looking for attention.
I've been to the Titanic in a yellow submarine and the North Pole in a Russian nuclear ice breaker.
I realize that my life is not the common ordinary person.
