Opening the High Frontier of Space

Many years ago, the Astronomer Royal of Great Britain Richard vander
Riet Woolley famously declared, "Space travel is utter bilge." It was
a statement that haunted him for the rest of his life. The current
Astronomer Royal, Lord Martin Rees, seems to have repeated the folly
of his predecessor, albeit with a modern twist and caveat.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/art..._of_space.html