I remember it was hard to believe that I was taking a step onto the lunar surface.

There may be aliens in our Milky Way galaxy, and there are billions of other galaxies. The probability is almost certain that there is life somewhere in space.

It's not easy to get human beings into orbit. So far only three nations have been able to do that, with all the resources that they put together. And I'm just a little skeptical that that's going to be done by the private sector without making use of what has been done by the government.

Once you've been first, it cannot be done again. Not by you, not by anyone else.

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.

In my mind, public space travel will precede efforts toward exploration -- be it returning to the moon, going to Mars, visiting asteroids, or whatever seems appropriate. We've got millions and millions of people who want to go into space, who are willing to pay. When you figure in the payload potential of customers, everything changes.

They didn’t tell me I was going into space until after they locked the shuttle doors and started counting down.