The following are my closing comments at the event at Framingham State University that launched the "Academy in Space Initiative:"

“We have begun a wonderful dialogue here tonight, and we don’t want it to end with this evening. As you can see, humanity is already beginning to step out onto the infinite frontier we call “space.” It is no longer the science fiction of the future—these are today’s headlines.

“Will we do a good job of exploring this new region, or will we make the kinds of mistakes we have made in the past, as we have explored the frontiers of Earth?

“Let’s imagine that it is 1816, instead of 2016, and we are meeting to consider how we might move from the East Coast into the western part of the United States. How would we do it differently, what questions would we ask, and how would we find the answers?

“That is what the “Academy in Space Initiative” is all about. We want to launch this Initiative tonight here at Framingham State, and we want to invite educational institutions around the world to become involved.

“We plan to ask questions like, ‘Should we use nuclear power to explore the solar system?’ and ‘Who gets to settle Mars?’ and ‘How does space development affect climate change?’

"If you are interested, please contact us."