Quotes by Astronaut

"If women can be railroad workers in Russia, why can't they fly in space?"

Valentina Tereshkova, Russian Astronaut

Woman, Women, Russia, Space, Workers

"Of course, in our grade school, in those days, there were no organized sports at all. We just went out and ran around the school yard for recess."

Alan Shepard, American Astronaut

Sports, School

"So everything turned out fine, and we were given the opportunity to go to Washington and be briefed on the project of man in space, and given the opportunity to choose whether we wanted to get involved or not."

Alan Shepard, American Astronaut

Opportunity, Man, Project, Space

"The rocket had worked perfectly, and all I had to do was survive the reentry forces. You do it all, in a flight like that, in a rather short period of time, just 16 minutes as a matter of fact."

Alan Shepard, American Astronaut

Time, Fact

"Then there was the challenge to keep doing better and better, to fly the best test flight that anybody had ever flown. That led to my being recognized as one of the more experienced test pilots, and that led to the astronaut business."

Alan Shepard, American Astronaut

Business, Being, Challenge

"We also knew it would be difficult, because of the financial condition of the family, for me to go to college."

Alan Shepard, American Astronaut

Family, Financial, College

"We worked with the engineers in the design and construction and testing phases in those various areas, then we would get back together at the end of the week and brief each other as to what had gone on."

Alan Shepard, American Astronaut

Design, End, Testing

"And I think that still is true of this business - which is basically research and development - that you probably spend more time in planning and training and designing for things to go wrong, and how you cope with them, than you do for things to go right."

Alan Shepard, American Astronaut

Business, Time, Development, Planning

"I think the sense of family and family achievement, plus the discipline which I received there from that one-room school were really very helpful in what I did later on."

Alan Shepard, American Astronaut

Family, Achievement, Discipline, School

"I think all of us certainly believed the statistics which said that probably 88% chance of mission success and maybe 96% chance of survival. And we were willing to take those odds."

Alan Shepard, American Astronaut

Success, Survival, Chance, Mission

"I must admit, maybe I am a piece of history after all."

Alan Shepard, American Astronaut

History,

"I didn't mind studying. Obviously math and the physical science subjects interested me more than some of the more artistic subjects, but I think I was a pretty good student."

Alan Shepard, American Astronaut

Science, Mind, Pretty

"But when I was selected, after my very first tour of squadron duty, to become one of the youngest candidates for the test pilot school, I began to realize, maybe you are a little bit better."

Alan Shepard, American Astronaut

Duty, First, School

"The pilot looked at his cues of attitude and speed and orientation and so on and responded as he would from the same cues in an airplane, but there was no way it flew the same. The simulators had showed us that."

Alan Shepard, American Astronaut

Attitude,

"Whether you are an astronomer or a life scientist, geophysicist, or a pilot, you've got to be there because you believe you are good in your field, and you can contribute, not because you are going to get a lot of fame or whatever when you get back."

Alan Shepard, American Astronaut

Life, Fame

"It's a very sobering feeling to be up in space and realize that one's safety factor was determined by the lowest bidder on a government contract."

Alan Shepard, American Astronaut

Government, Feeling, Safety, Space

"You know, being a test pilot isn't always the healthiest business in the world."

Alan Shepard, American Astronaut

Business, Being, World

"You may not have any extra talent, but maybe you are just paying more attention to what you are doing."

Alan Shepard, American Astronaut

Talent, Attention, May

"You've done it in the simulator so many times, you don't have a real sense of being excited when the flight is going on. You're excited before, but as soon as the liftoff occurs, you are busy doing what you have to do."

Alan Shepard, American Astronaut

Being, Sense

"You have to be there not for the fame and glory and recognition and being a page in a history book, but you have to be there because you believe your talent and ability can be applied effectively to operation of the spacecraft."

Alan Shepard, American Astronaut

History, Talent, Ability, Being

"But I don't think we'll go there until we go back to the moon and develop a technology base for living and working and transporting ourselves through space."

Jack Schmitt, American Astronaut

Technology, Living, Moon, Space

"It's great that people are interested in Mars."

Jack Schmitt, American Astronaut

People,

"It's like trying to describe what you feel when you're standing on the rim of the Grand Canyon or remembering your first love or the birth of your child. You have to be there to really know what it's like."

Jack Schmitt, American Astronaut

Love, First, Firstlove, Trying

"Kennedy had made a mess in Cuba at the Bay of Pigs. He had to do something to look good. The Apollo program of going to the Moon was quite a goal,."

Wally Schirra, American Astronaut

Goal, Moon

"John Glenn craved the publicity. I think even John would admit that. When he went into politics, that became pretty obvious! He knew how to do public relations."

Wally Schirra, American Astronaut

Politics, Pretty, Public, Publicity

1

"When people have asked if I'd like to go in the Shuttle, I said you don't get to fly it, except for landing, which I'd love to do. I wouldn't go unless I could command it."

Wally Schirra, American Astronaut

Love, People

"Kids today don't want to get married. Too many of their friends have been married and divorced already. They just don't believe in it."

Wally Schirra, American Astronaut

Friendship, Friends, Kids, Today, Want

1

"I've always thought space station is a great name. It should be like a gas station where we go for service and supplies before heading further out."

Wally Schirra, American Astronaut

Thought, Name, Service, Space

"I saw the booster, not Sputnik, flying by, and I said, maybe this is the way we should be going, not just sitting back waiting for something to happen."

Wally Schirra, American Astronaut

Flying, Waiting

"I remember seeing war hero Jimmy Doolittle fly a Gee Bee racer there. He was my childhood hero. Many years later, I was lucky enough to go hunting with him."

Wally Schirra, American Astronaut

War, Childhood, Hunting, Years

"I don't think the space station will ever do anything for exploration. Putting people up there for a year or more is the only way you will get anywhere near the exploration concept."

Wally Schirra, American Astronaut

People, Exploration, Space, Will

"I don't go along with going to Moon first to build a launch pad to go to Mars. We should go to Mars from Earth orbit. We have already been to the Moon; we've already practiced."

Wally Schirra, American Astronaut

Earth, First, Moon

"He who commands an Apollo flight will not command a second one."

Wally Schirra, American Astronaut

Will,

"Dad went to Canada to learn how to fly with the Royal Canadian Air Force. He took me on my first airplane ride, where I could have a hand on the stick."

Wally Schirra, American Astronaut

Family, Dad, Canada, First, Force

"Each test pilot I know considers him, or herself, now that there are women, to be the very best. It's very demeaning to step down the ladder once in a while."

Wally Schirra, American Astronaut

Woman, Women, Now

"I was told having a website would help me. I have yet to figure out why my life story needs to be on the web."

Wally Schirra, American Astronaut

Life, Help, Needs

"The astronauts who came in with me in my astronaut class - my class had 29 men and 6 women - those men were all very used to working with women."

Sally Ride, American Astronaut

Man, Men, Women, Class

"So I saw many planets, and they looked just a little bit brighter than they do from Earth."

Sally Ride, American Astronaut

Earth,

"So I decided on science when I was in college."

Sally Ride, American Astronaut

Science, College

"The food isn't too bad. It's very different from the food that the astronauts ate in the very early days of the space program."

Sally Ride, American Astronaut

Food, Space

"Well, we spend an awful lot of our time working and doing experiments. It's very busy up on the shuttle."

Sally Ride, American Astronaut

Time,

"Once you are assigned to a flight, the whole crew is assigned at the same time, and then that crew trains together for a whole year to prepare for that flight."

Sally Ride, American Astronaut

Time,

"The most anxious time was during launch, just because that is so dramatic."

Sally Ride, American Astronaut

Time,

"The pressure suit helps if something goes wrong during launch or re-entry - astronauts have a way to parachute off the shuttle. The suits protect you from loss of pressure in case of emergency."

Sally Ride, American Astronaut

Loss, Pressure, Wrong

"The stars don't look bigger, but they do look brighter."

Sally Ride, American Astronaut

Stars,

"The view of Earth is spectacular."

Sally Ride, American Astronaut

Earth,

"On a standard space shuttle crew, two of the astronauts have a test pilot background - the commander and the pilot."

Sally Ride, American Astronaut

Space,

"If women can be railroad workers in Russia, why can't they fly in space?"

​

"Of course, in our grade school, in those days, there were no organized sports at all. We just went out and ran around the school yard for recess."

​

"So everything turned out fine, and we were given the opportunity to go to Washington and be briefed on the project of man in space, and given the opportunity to choose whether we wanted to get involved or not."

​

"The rocket had worked perfectly, and all I had to do was survive the reentry forces. You do it all, in a flight like that, in a rather short period of time, just 16 minutes as a matter of fact."

​

"Then there was the challenge to keep doing better and better, to fly the best test flight that anybody had ever flown. That led to my being recognized as one of the more experienced test pilots, and that led to the astronaut business."

​

"We also knew it would be difficult, because of the financial condition of the family, for me to go to college."

​

"We worked with the engineers in the design and construction and testing phases in those various areas, then we would get back together at the end of the week and brief each other as to what had gone on."

​

"And I think that still is true of this business - which is basically research and development - that you probably spend more time in planning and training and designing for things to go wrong, and how you cope with them, than you do for things to go right."

​

"I think the sense of family and family achievement, plus the discipline which I received there from that one-room school were really very helpful in what I did later on."

​

"I think all of us certainly believed the statistics which said that probably 88% chance of mission success and maybe 96% chance of survival. And we were willing to take those odds."

​

"I must admit, maybe I am a piece of history after all."

​

"I didn't mind studying. Obviously math and the physical science subjects interested me more than some of the more artistic subjects, but I think I was a pretty good student."

​

"But when I was selected, after my very first tour of squadron duty, to become one of the youngest candidates for the test pilot school, I began to realize, maybe you are a little bit better."

​

"The pilot looked at his cues of attitude and speed and orientation and so on and responded as he would from the same cues in an airplane, but there was no way it flew the same. The simulators had showed us that."

​

"Whether you are an astronomer or a life scientist, geophysicist, or a pilot, you've got to be there because you believe you are good in your field, and you can contribute, not because you are going to get a lot of fame or whatever when you get back."

​

"It's a very sobering feeling to be up in space and realize that one's safety factor was determined by the lowest bidder on a government contract."

​

"You know, being a test pilot isn't always the healthiest business in the world."

​

"You may not have any extra talent, but maybe you are just paying more attention to what you are doing."

​

"You've done it in the simulator so many times, you don't have a real sense of being excited when the flight is going on. You're excited before, but as soon as the liftoff occurs, you are busy doing what you have to do."

​

"You have to be there not for the fame and glory and recognition and being a page in a history book, but you have to be there because you believe your talent and ability can be applied effectively to operation of the spacecraft."

​

"But I don't think we'll go there until we go back to the moon and develop a technology base for living and working and transporting ourselves through space."

​

"It's great that people are interested in Mars."

​

"It's like trying to describe what you feel when you're standing on the rim of the Grand Canyon or remembering your first love or the birth of your child. You have to be there to really know what it's like."

​

"Kennedy had made a mess in Cuba at the Bay of Pigs. He had to do something to look good. The Apollo program of going to the Moon was quite a goal,."

​

"John Glenn craved the publicity. I think even John would admit that. When he went into politics, that became pretty obvious! He knew how to do public relations."

1

"When people have asked if I'd like to go in the Shuttle, I said you don't get to fly it, except for landing, which I'd love to do. I wouldn't go unless I could command it."

​

"Kids today don't want to get married. Too many of their friends have been married and divorced already. They just don't believe in it."

1

"NASA should start thinking about this planet."

​

"We spent a lot of time in simulators. We were going to do it right."

​

"At the end of our NASA careers, no one had a place for us in the military."

​

"I've always thought space station is a great name. It should be like a gas station where we go for service and supplies before heading further out."

​

"I saw the booster, not Sputnik, flying by, and I said, maybe this is the way we should be going, not just sitting back waiting for something to happen."

​

"I remember seeing war hero Jimmy Doolittle fly a Gee Bee racer there. He was my childhood hero. Many years later, I was lucky enough to go hunting with him."

​

"I don't think the space station will ever do anything for exploration. Putting people up there for a year or more is the only way you will get anywhere near the exploration concept."

​

"I don't go along with going to Moon first to build a launch pad to go to Mars. We should go to Mars from Earth orbit. We have already been to the Moon; we've already practiced."

​

"He who commands an Apollo flight will not command a second one."

​

"Dad went to Canada to learn how to fly with the Royal Canadian Air Force. He took me on my first airplane ride, where I could have a hand on the stick."

​

"Each test pilot I know considers him, or herself, now that there are women, to be the very best. It's very demeaning to step down the ladder once in a while."

​

"I was told having a website would help me. I have yet to figure out why my life story needs to be on the web."

​

"The astronauts who came in with me in my astronaut class - my class had 29 men and 6 women - those men were all very used to working with women."