“For a country that has invested so much for so long to achieve a leadership position in space exploration and exploitation, this condition is viewed by many as lamentably embarrassing and unacceptable. A lead, however earnestly and expensively won, once lost, is nearly impossible to regain.”

— Former NASA astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first man
to walk on the moon, testifying before Congress yesterday
on the end of the US manned-flight space program