I want people to go into space, to orbit around the world a few times, even to stay there for 24 hours and then come back to where they took off. And I also want people with a low income to be able to do that, not only rich people.

I'm convinced that sending people to Mars is so expensive that if you go once and bring the people back and then go again and bring the people back, we're eventually going to run out of money. But what if we send people the first time and they don't come back? What if they stay there?

People communicate in Twittering ways. I've learned how to do that.

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

Astronauts are not superhuman. They lead ordinary lives and have varied personalities.

I understand that Detroit was a pretty rough place to grow up in the '70s and '80s.

We need to have people up there who can communicate what it feels like, not just pilots and engineers.