The history of exploration has never been driven by exploration. But Columbus himself was a discoverer. So was Magellan. But the people who wrote checks were not. They had other motivations. And there's Columbus - he couldn't even get Italy to pay for his voyage so he has to go to Spain.

You like to explore things, and your parents don't like it because it gets the pots and pans dirty, and because it's noisy - but for you it's fun, you're resting. You're actually doing experiments... Just tell your parents that they're experiments, and you want to become a scientist, and then they won't stop you from doing anything you want.

Space exploration is a force of nature unto itself that no other force in society can rival.

The iron from that meteorite and the iron from your blood have common origin in the core of a star.

By the way, how much does NASA cost? It's half a penny on a dollar. Did you know that? ... The most powerful agency on the dreams of a nation is currently underfunded to do what it needs to be doing, and that's making dreams come true ... How much would you pay for the universe?

If Mars formed life, then life on Earth could have been seeded by life on Mars, making every life form on Earth descended from Martians.

I never got into 'Star Wars.' Maybe because they made no attempt to portray real physics. At all.