The Americans are still the leaders in human space flight. I feel we have a danger here of kind of stagnating. We're kind of resting on our laurels and there's a danger going forward if we don't take bold steps to really support human space flight in this country that we could fall behind. After the space shuttle is retired, we're going to have a big gap, five to seven years, at least where we're not going to have the ability to send our own astronauts into space, we'll have to buy rides on the Russian Soyuz, and so that will be a pretty big step down for us.
Qian Xuesen, the father of the Chinese Space Program, studied in the United States, and he was a protégé of Theodore Von Carmen's at Cal Tech and hel… - Leroy Chiao
Qian Xuesen, the father of the Chinese Space Program, studied in the United States, and he was a protégé of Theodore Von Carmen's at Cal Tech and hel…
- Leroy Chiao
Space is very unforgiving business - Leroy Chiao
Space is very unforgiving business
I had done everything I could do as an astronaut, and we have a long line of inexperienced astronauts waiting for their first missions, and so my rol… - Leroy Chiao
I had done everything I could do as an astronaut, and we have a long line of inexperienced astronauts waiting for their first missions, and so my rol…
I remember getting advice like, "Oh, do what interests you. Don't worry about tomorrow, live for today," kind of thing. And to a degree, you've got t… - Leroy Chiao
I remember getting advice like, "Oh, do what interests you. Don't worry about tomorrow, live for today," kind of thing. And to a degree, you've got t…
I think it's good to have competition. Now we have a third country that can launch astronauts, so it's good for all of us. It makes us a little bit m… - Leroy Chiao
I think it's good to have competition. Now we have a third country that can launch astronauts, so it's good for all of us. It makes us a little bit m…
Tinkering is something we need to know how to do in order to keep something like the space station running. I am a tinkerer by nature. - Leroy Chiao
Tinkering is something we need to know how to do in order to keep something like the space station running. I am a tinkerer by nature.
There is no one area of chemical engineering that specifically helped me in my career as an astronaut, it was more the general education in engineeri… - Leroy Chiao
There is no one area of chemical engineering that specifically helped me in my career as an astronaut, it was more the general education in engineeri…
One of my challenges was to try to photograph the Great Wall of China. And I did actually take some photos, but it was hard to discern the wall with … - Leroy Chiao
One of my challenges was to try to photograph the Great Wall of China. And I did actually take some photos, but it was hard to discern the wall with …
As commander I was responsible for the overall success of the mission, and so I had to know at least a little bit about everything. - Leroy Chiao
As commander I was responsible for the overall success of the mission, and so I had to know at least a little bit about everything.
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