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Among all the marvels of modern invention, that with which I am most concerned is, of course, air transportation. Flying is perhaps the most dramatic of recent scientific attainment. In the brief span of thirty-odd years, the world has seen an inventor's dream first materialized by the Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk become an everyday actuality.

We were young, we were pilots, and we were hungry to test the new technology of 'space machines.' And we all wanted to be first.

I believe in the importance of flying in space and the research that we do.

Electromagnetic theory and experiment gave us the telephone, radio, TV, computers, and made the internal combustion engine practical - thus, the car and airplane, leading inevitably to the rocket and outer-space exploration.

Throughout history, people have studied pure science from a desire to understand the universe rather than practical applications for commercial gain. But their discoveries later turned out to have great practical benefits.

People wanted to do science outside of classical institutions like universities or big corporations, so we embraced it.

From my earliest days, I was fascinated by science.

What the history of aviation has brought in the 20th century should inspire us to be inventors and explorers ourselves in the new century.

One hardly knows where, in the history of science, to look for an important movement that had its effective start in so pure and simple an accident as that which led to the building of the great Washington telescope, and went on to the discovery of the satellites of Mars.

The Discovery was the most intricate, complex machine man has ever built. It's a testament to our time.