A star-gazing, rocket-riding, moon-walking quote collection

The shuttle tomorrow is truly like laying the last spike on the transcontinental railroad, only much more so. And whether or not we're going to see in in the next 10 or 20 years, there are people alive today who will see manufacturing in space from moon materials or from asteroids.

— Jerry Brown, Governor of California, 1977.

The fourth landing of the Columbia is the historical equivalent of the driving of the golden spike which completed the first transcontinental railroad. It marks our entrance into a new era.

— President Ronald Reagan, regards the final test flight of the Space Shuttle, STS-4, 4 July 1982

As chairman of the Senate subcommittee responsible for NASA appropriations, I say not a penny for this nutty fantasy.

— Senator William Proxmire, 1977.

And as we know now, and as I pointed out many times, the great plume of fire at the bottom of the Space Shuttle is actually dollar bills burning, and the most efficient method of destroying American dollar bills as has ever been devised by man.

— Representative Dana Rohrabacher, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics, during fiscal year 1998 NASA authorization hearings, 4 March 1997.

The Shuttle is to space flight what Lindbergh was to commercial aviation.

— Arthur C. Clarke

Anyone who sits on top of the largest hydrogen-oxygen fueled system in the world; knowing they're going to light the bottom—and doesn't get a little worried—does not fully understand the situation.

 — John Young, after being asked if he was worried about making the first space shuttle flight.

Of course risk is part of spaceflight. We accept some of that to achieve greater goals in exploration and find out more about ourselves and the universe.

— Lisa Nowak, STS-121 astronaut, a few days prior to launch, reported in the 'Houston Chronicle' newspaper, 25 June 2006.

Every one of us is aware there is a slightly increased risk if you compare it to the day-to-day risk that we might be exposed to driving on the streets or going on commercial airlines. Each of us, independent of our nationality or space agency, believes the experience we gain in terms of scientific results, in terms of just expanding our horizons, is worth the remaining risk.

—German astronaut Thomas Reiter, a few days prior to launch of STS-121, reported in the 'Houston Chronicle,' 25 June 2006

We fooled ourselves into thinking this thing wouldn't crash. When I was in astronaut training I asked, 'what is the likelihood of another accident?' The answer I got was: one in 10,000, with an asterisk. The asterisk meant, 'we don't know.'

— Bryan O'Connor, NASA deputy associate administrator Space Shuttle, interview in Space News, 10 January 1996.

I made the statement that if we're wrong and something goes wrong on this flight, I wouldn't want to have to be the person to stand up in front of board of inquiry and say that I went ahead and told them to go ahead and fly this thing outside what the motor was qualified to.

— Allan McDonald, Morton Thikol, testimony to the Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident, 14 February 1986.

My God, Thiokol, when do you want me to launch, next April?

— Lawrence Mulloy, Solid Rocket Booster Project Director, Marshall Space Flight Center, NASA, regards Morton Thiokol's engineers' warnings, 27 January 1986.

[I'm] appalled at the Thiokol recommendation.

— George Hardy, Deputy Director of Science and Engineering, Marshall Space Flight Center, NASA, regards Morton Thiokol's engineers' warnings, 27 January 1986.

If the primary [o-ring] seal does not seat, the secondary seal will seat. . . . [Morton Thiokol] recommends STS-51L launch proceed on 28 January 1986.

— Joe C. Kilminster, VP Space Booster Programs, Morton Thiokal, after a meeting in which Senior VP Jerry Mason told people to take off their engineering hats and put on their management hat, by fax to NASA, January 27 1986.

The explosion of the 'Challenger,' after twenty-four consecutive successful shuttle flights, grounded all manned space missions by the U.S. for more than two years. The delay barely evoked comment. . . .  But contrast the early history of aviation, when 31 of the first 40 pilots hired by the Post Office died in crashes within six years, with no suspension of service.

— C. Owen Paepke

All of the people involved in the program, to my knowledge, felt 'Challenger' was quite ready to go and I made the decision, along with the recommendation of the team supporting me, that we launched.

— Jesse W. Moore, NASA associate administrator for space flight, reported in 'The New York Times,' 29 January 1986.

I know how to never have another 'Challenger.' I know how to never have another leak, and never to screw up another mirror, and that is to stop and build some shopping centers in the desert.

— J. R. Thompson, NASA deputy administrator.

All of a sudden, space isn't friendly. All of a sudden, it's a place where people can die. . . . Many more people are going to die. But we can't explore space if the requirement is that there be no casualties; we can't do anything if the requirement is that there be no casualties.

— Isaac Asimov, regards the Challenger investigation, on CBS television show '48 Hours,' 21 April 1988.

Only realistic flight schedules should be proposed, schedules that have a reasonable chance of being met. If in this way the government would not support them, then so be it. NASA owes it to the citizens from whom it asks support to be frank, honest, and informative. . . . For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled.

— Richard P. Feynman, 'personal observations' in an appendix to the official Challenger accident report.

Our nation is indeed fortunate that we can still draw on an immense reservoir of courage, character, and fortitude, that we are still blessed with heroes like those of the space shuttle Challenger. Man will continue his conquest of space. To reach out for new goals and ever-greater achievements, that is the way we shall commemorate our seven Challenger heroes.

— President Ronald Reagan

To use a Southern euphemism, our space program has been snake-bit.

— Al Gore, (then) US Senator, regards the unsuccessful launch of an unmanned rocket shortly after the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger, 'Nightline' TV show, 5 May 1986.

To venture into space we must be strong-willed and determined. We must be fully committed to its exploration and discovery; space permits no half measures and is unforgiving of mistakes.

— Henry Joy McCracken, 'LM,' November 1997.

The route to the target is more important than the target. We are going to go for the target, but we enjoy the route as well.

— Israeli Air Force Col. Ilan Ramon, to reporters on the eve of his Space Shuttle flight, 16 January 2003. STS-107 was lost on re-entry on 1 February 2003.

In the 19th Century people were looking for the Northwest Passage. Ships were lost and brave people were killed, but that doesn't mean we never went back to that part of the world again, and I consider it the same in space exploration.

— John L. Phillips, astronaut.

Some say that we should stop exploring space, that the cost in human lives is too great. But Columbia's crew would not have wanted that. We are a curious species, always wanting to know what is over the next hill, around the next corner, on the next island. And we have been that way for thousands of years.

— Stuart Atkinson, 'New Mars,' Mar. 7, 2003.

Some things simply are inherent to the design of the bird and cannot be made better without going and getting a new generation of spacecraft. That's as true for the space shuttle as it is for your toaster oven.

— Michael Griffin, NASA Administrator, regards space shuttle safety, eve of launch of STS-114, 25 July 2005

The thing I'll remember most about the flight is that it was fun. In fact, I'm sure it was the most fun that I'll ever have in my life.

— Sally K. Ride, first woman to orbit Earth aboard the Space Shuttle, 1983.