Did the Pilgrims on the Mayflower sit around Plymouth Rock waiting for a return trip? They came here to settle. And that's what we should be doing on Mars. When you go to Mars, you need to have made the decision that you're there permanently. The more people we have there, the more it can become a sustaining environment. Except for very rare exceptions, the people who go to Mars shouldn't be coming back. Once you get on the surface, you're there.

We feel that this stands as a symbol of the insatiable curiosity of all mankind to explore the unknown.

I shot down two airplanes in Korea, so I wasn't a slouch.

I'm not in favor of just taking short-term isolated situations and depleting our resources to keep our climate just the way it is today.

When President Kennedy took office, I was in the midst of my education.

The purpose of going to Mars is for humans to first begin to occupy, permanently, another planet in the solar system. The astronauts or pilgrims, whatever you might call them, are going to be very historically unique human beings.

Let's not spend resources that we don't need to be sending astronauts back to the moon. Let's not spend expensive resources on bringing people who have reached Mars back again. Prepare them to become a growing colony.