The great decision was the Explorer program. The thing we did not do well is that we allowed and somewhat encouraged too much exposure to the program.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I may not have proved a great explorer, but we have done the greatest march ever made and come very near to great success.
It's important for the explorer to be willing to be led astray.
The American people want and deserve a space program truly worthy of a nation of pioneers.
It never occurred to me that we would have as grandiose a program as the Marshall Plan, but I felt that we had to do something to save Europe from economic disaster which would encourage the Communist takeover.
I always wanted to be an explorer, but - it seemed I was doomed to be nothing more than a very silly person.
Our goal was to completely change transportation. Change traffic. And make it possible to get anywhere you want to go without owning a car.
I think both the space shuttle program and the International Space Station program have not really lived up to their expectations.
I wanted to be an explorer, but gradually found the world had been explored and that there was nowhere left, really. Once they climbed Everest in 1953, when I was 10 years old, I thought, 'Well, that's pretty much it now.' But the idea of travelling and exploring and adventure was very strong.
If leaders in the space program had at its beginning in the 1940s, pointed out the benefits to people on earth rather than emphasizing the search for proof of evolution in space, the program would have saved $100 billion in tax money and achieved greater results.
So everything turned out fine, and we were given the opportunity to go to Washington and be briefed on the project of man in space, and given the opportunity to choose whether we wanted to get involved or not.