Quote

There is good science you can do in space. There is stuff there you cannot do on Earth and we can gain understanding from it.

You don't go into space just for the science. Economically, it is not worth it. I think the reason we should be in space is for the exploration; it's the human endeavour.

There is actually a fair amount of money being put behind science today.

Science is a wonderful thing if one does not have to earn one's living at it.

If I could snap my fingers and do one thing in science, I would get more funding for basic science. But the level of funding that needs to be done is not on the order of millions, like the cost of the Breakthrough Prizes. It's billions to tens of billions.

If I can get some student interested in science, if I can show members of the general public what's going on up there in the space program, then my job's been done.

Science isn't just for scientists - it's not just a training for careers.

This is a really big space station. We do a lot of various kinds of work here, different kinds of science experiments; we have over 400 different experiments going on at any one time in different areas, from basic science research to medical technology, that hopefully will benefit more people on Earth.

The idea that science is just some luxury that you'll get around to if you can afford it is regressive to any future a country might dream for itself.

Some things are only capable of being done in space. Examples of that are looking at our Earth from that far away, and understanding the entire processes of storms and weather patterns, and oceans, and coastlines.