Unfortunately another of his remarks adapted from Wikipedia says:
On appointment as Astronomer Royal, Woolley reiterated his long-held view that “space travel is utter bilge”. Speaking to Time magazine in 1956, Woolley noted:
“It’s utter bilge. I don’t think anybody will ever put up enough money to do such a thing . . . What good would it do us? If we spent the same amount of money on preparing first-class astronomical equipment we would learn much more about the universe . . . It is all rather rot”.
Woolley’s protestations came just one year prior to the launch of Sputnik 1.
So the proverbial pinch of salt needs to be invoked when it comes to taking certain of his comments seriously.