Curiosity is the essence of human existence.

People try to typecast astronauts as heroic and superhuman. We're only human beings.

Some astronauts describe the routine flushing of urine into space, where the freezing temperatures turn the droplets into a cloud of bright, drifting crystals, as being among the most amazing sights they saw on an entire voyage.

Today, we are on a path of decay. We are seeing the book close on five decades of accomplishment as the leader in human space exploration.

I know the stars are my home. I learned about them, needed them for survival in terms of navigation. I know where I am when I look up at the sky. I know where I am when I look up at the Moon; it's not just some abstract romantic idea, it's something very real to me. See, I've expanded my home.

We leave as we came, and, God willing, as we shall return, with peace and hope for all mankind.

Some of the most exciting space education in the country is not coming out of Washington or New York or California or even Texas. It's coming from a place in Kansas called the Cosmosphere.