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 stic….

I left Earth three times and found no other place to go. Please take care of Spaceship Earth..

You don't raise heroes, you raise sons. And if you treat them like sons, they'll turn out to be heroes, even if it's just in your own eyes..

Feeling weightless... it's so many things together. A feeling of pride, of healthy solitude, of dignified freedom from everything that's dirty, stick….

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..

I know enough about the moon to know how unpleasant and inhospitable it is. . . . I know enough about Mars to know that you can't live there, you can….

A little levity is appropriate in a dangerous trade..

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 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 anywhe….

When a test pilot comes off a flight, there is typically another pilot who is going to take it up, and he believes in the debriefing. You don't keep ….

I played English football - soccer - instead of American football, because we couldn't afford the equipment..

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 ….

When a man looks across a street, sees a pretty girl, and waves at her, that's not a rendezvous, that's a passing acquaintance. When he walks across ….

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

Apollo was a big, unwieldy vehicle. I had a problem with the flight controllers over that. It would try to fare its way like an airplane..

Levity is the lubricant of a crisis. We resort to jokes, pranks and good natured kidding to relieve tension, stress and boredom..

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

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….

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 Moo….

Another real problem was over putting our helmets on for re-entry, because we all had severe head colds. They couldn't come up there and make us. Hou….

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 unle….