"Man has always gone where he has been able to go, it is a basic satisfaction of our inquisitive nature, and I think we all lose a little bit if we choose to turn our backs on further exploration. Exploration produces a mood in people, a widening of interest, stimulation of the thought process, and I hate to see it wither. Our universe should be explored by microscope and by telescope, but I don't believe the argument that less emphasis on one will cause a more powerful focus on the other. When man fails to push himself to the possible limits of his universe in a physical sense, I think it causes a mental slackening as well, and we are all the poorer for it. Space is the only physical frontier we have left, and I believe its continued exploration will produce real, if unpredictable, benefits to all of us who remain behind on this planet. That one cannot spell out in any detail what these benefits will be does not contradict or deny their existence."
- Michael Collins, Carrying the Fire (1974)
