Space is not just going up and coming back down again. Space is getting into orbit and being there, living there, establishing a presence, a permanence.

Before deciding what to do about national space policy, Obama set up an outside review panel of space experts, headed up by my friend Norm Augustine, former head of Lockheed Martin and a former government official.

There are always door openings. And gradually, it accumulates. The opportunities open up in front of you.

You can tell I'm not too bashful about some of my feelings.

Monumental achievements by humanity should be done by major organizations as much together as possible.

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

To move forward, what's required is a unified space agenda based on exploration, science, development, commerce, and security.