I was a kind of a one-man army. I could solder circuits together, I could turn out things on the lathe, I could work with rockets and balloons. I'm a…

- James Van Allen

I am never as clear about any matter as when I have finished writing about it.

- James Van Allen

My position is that it is high time for a calm debate on more fundamental questions. Does human spaceflight continue to serve a compelling cultural p…

- James Van Allen

In a dispassionate comparison of the relative values of human and robotic spaceflight, the only surviving motivation for continuing human spaceflight…

- James Van Allen

A man is a fabulous nuisance in space right now. He's not worth all the cost of putting him up there and keeping him comfortable and working.

- James Van Allen

Our family was very fond of the University of Iowa. We thought it was a good place to go.

- James Van Allen

I think we need someone in a responsible political position to have the courage to say, 'Let's terminate human spaceflight.'

- James Van Allen

These days, it's really been uninteresting except when disasters occur.

- James Van Allen

I'm one of the most durable and fervent advocates of space exploration, but my take is that we could do it robotically at far less cost and far great…

- James Van Allen