It is eventually revealed that the founding of the Space Museum, on the site of an old Military Surplus warehouse where hundreds of years worth of space history has piled up, came about because Tommy's father was a Space Marine guard there, and he "liberated" some of the momentoes, keeping them in his military footlocker. Because of his knowledge of space history, Tommy's father recognizes aliens who had attacked Earth before trying again (by pretending to be scrap dealers and taking the artifacts from the warehouse to use as weapons against humanity). He is able to use the objects he has saved to stop the aliens, although demolishing the warehouse at the same time. His earlier wish ("People in my time have become jaded, bored with space travel. If only they were exposed to the heroism of Earth's star-spanning pioneers, their sense of adventure might be awakened".) is fulfilled when the military realize the value of "historical consciousness" and create the Space Museum on the site.