No he wasn't. That is a contrived quote.
contrived as in he never said any of that, and the bit about stars and firmament is a misquote from what tesla did say, which was a synonym.
https://archive.is/7R5K2
for first pic.
http://www.tfcbooks.com/tesla/1900-06-00.htm
for the whole work that the firmament synonym was taken from.. read the whole thing and tell me how many times you see the word GLOBE
>>world is not as we are … thught??
globe globe globe globe.
he did make contact with extra-terrestrials though.