Roger, liftoff, and the clock is started.
Interpretation
This quote signifies the commencement of an important journey or project, emphasizing the importance of taking the first step.
Alan Shepard's quote reflects the excitement and anticipation that accompanies the start of a significant endeavor. By using the words 'liftoff,' Shepard signifies the moment when all preparations culminate in action, symbolizing the leap from preparation to execution. It serves as a reminder that every successful venture begins with a decisive moment of commitment.
In practice
During a graduation speech to inspire students embarking on new careers.
Whether you are an astronomer or a life scientist, geophysicist, or a pilot, you've got to be there because you believe you are good in your field, and you can contribute, not because you are going to get a lot of fame or whatever when you get back.
The excitement really didn't start to build until the trailer - which was carrying me, with a space suit with ventilation and all that sort of stuff - pulled up to the launch pad.
It's a very sobering feeling to be up in space and realize that one's safety factor was determined by the lowest bidder on a government contract.
I think all of us certainly believed the statistics which said that probably 88% chance of mission success and maybe 96% chance of survival. And we were willing to take those odds.
When I first looked back at the Earth, standing on the Moon I cried
I think the sense of family and family achievement, plus the discipline which I received there from that one-room school were really very helpful in what I did later on.
I can't tell you what an honor it is, to even be mentioned in the same breath with Arthur Ashe. This is something I certainly will treasure forever.
I'm never content with what I do. I live in a sort of permanent dissatisfaction. I think that's the secret to doing things well.
Don't be too ambitious. Do the most important thing you can think of doing every year and then your career will take care of itself.
Becoming rich isn't as much about getting rich financially as about whom you become, in character and mind, to get rich.
Building a mission and building a business go hand-in-hand. It is true that the primary thing that makes me excited about what we're doing is the mission, but I also think, from the very beginning, we've had this healthy understanding which is that we need to do both.
When the first big paycheque with 'Dumb And Dumber' hit, I went: 'Gosh, I wonder if this will affect my performance. Will I do a take and think, was that worth $7 million?' But that never happened. If anything, it made me rebel against that thing when people who get rich start playing it safe.
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