When I was in college I made a laminated pocket-size printout of the Astronaut Candidate Basic Qualifications and carried it in my wallet every day, and it actu

When I was in college I made a laminated pocket-size printout of the Astronaut Candidate Basic Qualifications and carried it in my wallet every day, and it actually inspired me often to study harder and to go running. I think it's hard to overestimate how much benefit the space program has had just in terms of how much it has inspired people to study math, science, and engineering -- or how much further that inspiration would go if we were sending astronauts to destinations beyond low-Earth orbit.