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

The way I see it, what is going to come out of the moon activities is a respect for U.S. leadership.

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.

The much-hyped Ares 1-X was much ado about nothing.

It was designed to have an impact on the stalemate over Mutually Assured Destruction with the Soviet Union. Us reaching the moon convinced Gorbachev and other leaders that the Soviet Union couldn't compete with the U.S., so they revised their agenda. But people have short memories.

At 10,000 feet, the 3 parachutes would come out, a little lower the pressure of the atmosphere outside was greater than inside, and we could smell the salt air and it was very encouraging to return to earth.

If you want poets in space, you'll have to wait.