President Barack Obama introduced the premiere of Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey on Sunday night and took the opportunity to tout the importance of discovery and exploration.
“America has always been a nation of fearless explorers who dreamed bigger and reached farther than others imagined,” he said in his intro (watch it below). “That’s the spirit of discovery that Carl Sagan captured in the original Cosmos.”
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Seth MacFarlane teamed with Sagan’s original creative collaborators — writer/executive producer Ann Druyan and co-writer, astronomer Steven Soter — to conceive the new 13-part series.
In his intro, Obama goes on to encourage viewers to use their imaginations and added that there are “new frontiers to explore.”
“Open your eyes, and open your imagination,” he said. “The next great discovery could be yours.”
The series premiered Sunday at 9 p.m. ET/PT on 10 Fox Networks Group channels, including Fox and National Geographic Channel. On Feb. 28, Fox and Nat Geo hosted a special preview of the show at the White House as part of the first White House Student Film Festival.
