A star gazing, rocket riding, moon walking quote collection

Poyekhali.

— Yuri A. Gagarin, "Let's Go," shouted as Vostok 1 lifted off, 12 April 1961.

I saw for the first time the earth's shape. I could easily see the shores of continents, islands, great rivers, folds of the terrain, large bodies of water. The horizon is dark blue, smoothly turning to black. . . the feelings which filled me I can express with one word—joy.

— Yuri A. Gagarin, Life magazine, 21 April 1961.

The new socialist society turns even the most daring of man's dreams into a reality.

— TASS press statement regards Sputnik 1, man's first satellite in orbit, 4 October 1557.

There is no easy way to the stars from the earth.

— Seneca, in original Latin "Non est ad astra mollis e terris via." Hercules Furens, c. 40 AD.

All right. Let's get on with it!

— T. Keith Glennan, first NASA administrator, regarding the space program, 7 October 1958.

We all feel that there's a lot more to this thing than just being Number One, though we all want that. The Number One man will be the tool of our close-knit team. We're just getting started here with space programs that will continue as long as man can pick himself up and go. And we're all going to get a chance to make some contribution. There will be a lot of firsts: the first man on a ballistic firing, the first man into orbit, the first man to orbit the Moon, the first man to land on the Moon. The public enthusiasm in this thing so far has surprised me. If we don't keep moving, maybe the Russians are going to win a few of these blue ribbons.

— Gordon Cooper, Life magazine, 14 September 1959.

To be the first to enter the cosmos, to engage, single-handed, in an unprecedented duel with nature—could one dream of anything more?

— Yuri Gagarin (Юрий Алексеевич Гагарин), speaking in Moscow prior to flight, 1961

I am a friend, comrades, a friend!

— Yuri A. Gagarin, first words on the ground after first spaceflight, to a woman and a girl nearby, 12 April 1961.

The woman replied: Can it be that you have come from outer space?
Yuri: As a matter of fact, I have!

The Soviet Union has become the seacoast of the universe.

— Sergei Korolev

I am eagle, I am eagle!

— Gherman Titov (Герман Степанович Титов), Russia’s second astronaut.

Why don't you fix your little problem and light this candle?

— Alan B. Shepard Jr., to Mission Control regards another delay during his four hour sit atop the 10-story, 33-ton Redstone rocket while last-minute problems were being fixed. Cape Canaveral Air Station, just prior to the United States' first manned space mission, 5 May 1961.

You're on your way, Jose!

— Deke Slayton, at Mission Control, to Alan Shepard at liftoff of Freedom 7, first American in space, 5 May 1961.

Roger, liftoff, and the clock is started.

— Alan B. Shepard Jr., replying, 09:34:13 EST 5 May 1961.

A-OK full go.

— Commander Alan Shepard Jr., on blast-off of rocket carrying him aloft as America's first man in space, 5 May 1961. Defined as an engineering term for 'double OK' or perfect, it became a U.S. idiom for 'everything is going smoothly' and was later attributed by the Associated Press (New York Times, 31 July 1963) to Lieutenant-Colonel John Powers, public spokesman for astronauts.

On the periscope . . . . What a beautiful view. Cloud cover over Florida - three to four tenths near the eastern coast. Obscured up to Hatteras . . . I can see [lake] Okeechobee. Identify Andros Island. Identify the reefs.

— Commander Alan Shepard Jr., Freedom 7 rocket ride, 5 May 1961.

Godspeed, John Glenn.

— Scott Carpenter, spoken as Friendship 7 lifted off, but not over the ground-to-air circuit and so not heard by John Glenn, 20 February 1962. From 'God Spede you,' or God prosper you, which is a 15th century Middle English expression of good wishes to a person starting a journey.

Zero G and I feel fine.

— John Glenn, first American in orbit. NASA scientists were still debating how humans would handle long periods of zero g, and there were many health concerns. Glenn's line from Earth orbit directly addressed these concerns, 20 February 1962

It was quite a day. I don't know what you can say about a day when you see four beautiful sunsets. . . . This is a little unusual, I think.

— John Glen, American Chronicle, 1962.

That was a real fireball.

— John Glenn, re-entry, 20 February 1962

I am a stranger. I come in peace. Take me to your leader and there will be a massive reward for you in eternity.

— Note carried by John Glenn on his historic flight, translated into several languages, for use if he splashed down in the remote South Pacific seas.

It was a cherished experience. I feel I got the chance to see the inner workings of the grand order of things. In the overall scheme of things, it proves that men can do about anything they want to if they work hard enough at it, and I knew that I could do it . . . and that leads, of course, to a strong suspicion that everybody else can do it if they want to.

— Scott Carpenter, recalling his 1962 Mercury 7 space flight.

Father, we thank you, especially for letting me fly this flight … for the privilege of being able to be in this position, to be in this wondrous place, seeing all these many startling, wonderful things that you have created.

— L Gordon Cooper Jr., personal prayer while orbiting the earth, quoted in the New York Times, 22 May 1963.

Anyone who has spent any time in space will love it for the rest of their lives. I achieved my childhood dream of the sky.

— Valentina Tereshkova (Валенти́на Влади́мировна Терешко́ва), first woman in space.

Equipment malfunctions will also occur, particularly during subsystem development testing. In manned flight we must regard every malfunction, and, in fact, every observed peculiarity in the behavior or a system as an important warning of potential disaster. Only when the cause is understood and a change to eliminate it has been made and verified, can we proceed with the flight program.

— F.J. Bailey, Jr., NASA Manned Space Center, Review of Lessons Learned in the Mercury Program Relative to Spacecraft Design and Operations, March 1963.

We are gliding across the world in total silence, with absolute smoothness; a motion of stately grace which makes me feel godlike as I stand erect in my sideways chariot, cruising the night sky.

— Michael Collins, regards his Gemini 10 spacewalk, Carrying The Fire.

Feeling weightless . . . it's so many things together. A feeling of pride, of healthy solitude, of dignified freedom from everything that's dirty, sticky. You feel exquisitely comfortable . . . and you feel you have so much energy, such an urge to do things, such an ability to do things. And you work well, yes, you think well, without sweat, without difficulty as if the biblical curse in the sweat of thy face and in sorrow no longer exists, As if you've been born again.

— Wally Schirra.

In order for us to use the very best judgment possible in spending the taxpayer's money intelligently, we just have to do a certain amount of this research and development work ourselves. We just have to keep our own hands dirty to command the professional respect of the contractor personnel engaged with actual design, shop and testing work.

— Wernher von Braun, speech to the Sixteenth National Conference on the Management of Research, 18 September 1962

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

— Arthur C. Clarke, Profiles of the Future, 1962.

The Earth was absolutely round . . . I never knew what the word round meant until I saw Earth from space.

— Alexei Leonov, regards his 18 March 1985 historic first spacewalk, interview 1980.

What struck me most was the silence. It was a  great silence, unlike any I have encountered on Earth, so vast and deep that I began to hear my own body: my heart beating, my blood vessels pulsing, even the rustle of my muscles moving over each other seemed audible. There were more stars in the sky than I had expected. The sky was deep black, yet at the same time bright with sunlight.

— Alexei Leonov, cosmonaut, Life magazine, November 1988.

I'm coming back in . . . and it's the saddest moment of my life.

— Ed White, on being told to re-enter the Gemini capsule, ending America's first spacewalk, 3 June 1965.

Long flights give you more time to reflect, look around, experience your surroundings. I got to know the nooks and crannies on Mir very, very well.

— Mike Foale, who has 168 days logged in space.

You keep returning to the thought that only very thin walls separate you from the deathly cold and incomprehensible emptiness of space, which can extinguish life instantly and piteously.

— Oleg Makarov, cosmonaut, Life magazine, November 1988.

Dear Iranian nation, your children have placed the first indigenous satellite into orbit.

— Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of Iran, announcing the launch of the first Iranian satellite on State television, 2 February 2009.