The simplest thought, like the concept of the number one, has an elaborate logical underpinning.

We are one species. We are starstuff.

I believe our future depends powerfully on how well we understand this cosmos in which we float, like a mote of dust in the morning sky.

Nature does not always conform to our predispositions and preferences, to what we deem comfortable and easy to understand.

Goddard represented a unique combination of visionary dedication and technological brilliance. He studied physics because he needed physics to get to Mars. In reading the notebooks of Robert Goddard, I am struck by how powerful his exploratory and scientific motivations were - and how influental speculative ideas, even erroneous ones, can be on the shaping of the future.

Our ancestors lived out of doors. They were as familiar with the night sky as most of us are with our favorite television programs.

For all our failings, despite our limitations and fallibilities, we humans are capable of greatness.