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Absolutely the United States should lead in space, for the survival of the United States. It's inspiring for the next generation. If we lose leadership, then we'll be using Chinese capability to inspire Americans.

The American people want and deserve a space program truly worthy of a nation of pioneers.

For the first time in history all the major countries in the world are pushing together to reach this goal... building something in space that is really for all humankind.

Space offers extraordinary potential for commerce and adventure, for new innovations and new tests of will. As Americans, we can't help but reach for the stars. It's our nature. It's our destiny.

If you want a nation to have space exploration ambitions, you've got to send humans.

We need a community of nations capable of space flight because we all have to be off this planet sometime in the future. Our sun is going to burn out eventually, and we are not in a sustainable situation.

As a scientist, I want to go to Mars and back to asteroids and the Moon because I'm a scientist. But I can tell you, I'm not so naive a scientist to think that the nation might not have geopolitical reasons for going into space.

Space is not an enterprise that belongs to the U.S. or to Russia or to China - it is a human endeavor and experience. And that's as it should be.

There were about six years when there was not one American who went into space. We shouldn't do that again.

It's our destiny to explore. It's our destiny to be a space-faring nation.