The society of life on Mars, or the challenge of making Mars more livable, will have significant benefits on our attempts to modify and change in some ways the environment here on Earth.

There were about six years when there was not one American who went into space. We shouldn't do that again.

The first human beings to land on Mars should not come back to Earth. They should be the beginning of a build-up of a colony/settlement, I call it a 'permanence'.

What are you going to do with astronauts who first reach the surface of Mars and then turn around and rocket back home-ward? What are they going to do, write their memoirs? Would they go again? Having them repeat the voyage, in my view, is dim-witted. Why don't they stay there on Mars?

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

For the future, primarily, we must educate people in science, engineering, technology and math.

If we can conquer space, we can conquer childhood hunger.