"Let them have their ticker tape parades, their "space races,"
and their commemorative packets of dehydrated ice cream.
While Von Braun takes credit for his Redstone bottle rockets,
I am finalizing plans for an inter-planetary fleet that could
plant an American flag on every rock and pebble in this solar
system by the end of the next decade. I will be watching the
sunrise from atop the Olympus Mons long before NASA
takes their first steps on the moon."



- Dr. Wilhelm Arkin's response
to the offer of a position at NASA