Cool Space Words

Daily Quotes from Astronauts, Cosmonauts, Space Agency Employees, and Other Cool Space Words

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Astronaut Quotes Daily

[Home of the cool space words]

Welcome! This is my blog of quotes! Here, you'll find daily quotes from past and present Astronauts, Cosmonauts, Space Agency Employees, and anyone else who says Spacey Things.

Some quick info about this blog:

● I always fact check quotes to the best of my ability. Sources are not always included in the posts to keep consistent/clean formatting, and to prevent posts from becoming too long–but I guarantee I have a source for every quote on this blog. If you're curious about the source for any of the quotes, please send me an ask and I'll be happy to tell you!!

● Have a quote you'd like to see on this blog? Send it to me! My askbox is open! I just ask that you include the following things:

Any quote said by an astronaut, cosmonaut or employee of a space agency/aerospace company(i.e. a NASA flight director, an aerospace engineer, or anyone else in the industry) or the family members of those listed above OR A quote by anyone, as long as the quote itself is about space (i.e. quotes from a celebrity, song lyrics, or poetry talking about the moon, universe, space, astronauts, rockets, or anything else of that nature) AND The name of the person who said the quote

If you have a link to the source of the quote you're welcome to send it as well, although it's not required

I don't answer quote submission asks directly, again for consistency & cleanness in the formatting. You will be credited/tagged when the quote is posted, unless you send the ask anonymously.

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"I suppose one might ask why, if I am so strongly in favor of continued exploration, I didn't practice what I now preach and stay in the space program. I must admit I do feel a twinge of guilt occasionally, especially when someone says to me, as one intelligent lady did, 'Oh, you sold out at the top of the market, didn't you?' I guess what I am saying is that it is important that mankind explores, but it doesn't matter a damn whether Mike Collins or any other one individual does. Mike Collins has had his turn and now will gladly watch from the sidelines." –Michael Collins, Apollo 11 CMP, explaining his opinions on humanity's exploration

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"We made up each layer separately for the whole suit; the arms, the legs, the body... Some of them were taped tagether, some of them were sewn together. And then we piled them up one layer on top of another layer..." –Eleanor Foraker, seamstress responsible for assembling the Apollo spacesuits

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"[A] point which I think is worth examining is the American tendency to be faddish, supporting 'in' things blindly and just as blindly rejecting the passé. This line of thought tends to force evaluation on an either/or basis. Either cure cancer or fly space. Either clean up the environment or fly in space. There doesn't seem to be a willingness to do all these things on a balanced basis. Furthermore, I think Americans are grossly misinformed about how much of their tax dollar goes into space." –Michael Collins, discussing the public attitude towards the space program

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"Feelina weightless... it's so many things together: A feeling of pride, of healthy solitude, of dignified freedom..." –Wally Schirra, Apollo 7 Commander

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"I would have to admit that notoriety is not an unmixed catastrophe. While I want desperately to be able to take my kids to the zoo unnoticed, I don't mind one bit crawling on board the jetliner, clutching my tourist ticket, and having the little honey recognize me and whisk me up into first class, there to feed and nurture me and protect me from the nasty autograph seekers. I don't mind that breach of anonymity one little bit. Nor am I above telling the police officer when I am stopped for speeding, 'Gosh, Officer, I guess I just haven't learned to slow down since I got back from the moon.' So I suppose I am a phony who wants it both ways." –Michael Collins, Apollo 11 CMP, discussing the fame of being an astronaut

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"I think about the personal accomplishment, but there's more of a sense of the grand achievement by all the people who could put this man on the moon" –Alan Shepherd, Apollo 14 Commander

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"In orbit, traveling three hundred miles a minute, dawn and dusk come with a startling rapidity that compresses all the old familiar color changes into a very dynamic minute or two. Sunrise is the more dramatic of the two, as the eye which has become accustomed to darkness is forced into blinking attention by the sudden stabbing light in the east: first golden, then fiery orange, then incandescent white. But darkness can sneak up on you until, like an old lady fumbling with her knitting, you realize you can't see and have to turn on the light." –Astronaut Michael Collins, describing sunrise and sunset from earth orbit

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The day will come when we will embark on interstellar flight. Who can prevent us from dreaming such dreams, When it was Lenin who taught us how to dream? All planets in the universe are waiting to be discovered. We will chart the fifth ocean of space. Chkalov set us on this path.

–Verse written by Soviet poet Nikolai Krivanchikov, shortly after the launch of Sputnik 1, as translated in Alexei Leonov's book, Two Sides of the Moon

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"A century hence, 2000 may be viewed as quite a primitive period in human history. It's something to hope for. ...I am, and ever will be, a white-socks, pocket-protector, nerdy engineer—born under the second law of thermodynamics, steeped in the steam tables, in love with free-body diagrams, transformed by Laplace, and propelled by compressible flow. As an engineer, I take a substantial amount of pride in the accomplishments of my profession." –Neil Armstrong, "The Engineered Century" remarks delivered on behalf of the National Academy of Engineering, at the National Press Club, February 22, 2000

(Quote submitted by @spaced-out-reader)

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"If we die we want people to accept it. We are in a risky business, and we hope that if anything happens to us, it will not delay the program. The conquest of space is worth the risk of life. Our God-given curiosity will force us to go there ourselves because in the final analysis, only man can fully evaluate the moon in terms understandable to other men." –Gus Grissom, Apollo 1 Commander, On the dangers and importance going to the moon

(Quote submitted by @spaced-out-reader)

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"When Hodge completed his briefing, I still did not know what I wanted to say as he motioned me to the microphone. Emotionally I had come out of the shock, and my feeling now was one of pure anger. Anger that we in Flight Control in some way had let the crew down. ...I started talking about my feelings, and the words finally poured out. I didn't quite know where they came from. but I spoke slowly, deliberately, and with conviction.

Spaceflight will never tolerate carelessness incapacity, and neglect. Somewhere, somehow, we screwed up. It could have been in design, build, or test. Whatever it was, we should have caught it. We were too gung ho about the schedule and we locked out all of the problems we saw each day in our work. Every element of the progran was in trouble and so were we. The simulators were not working, Mission Control was behind in virtually every area, and the flight and test procedures changed daily. Nothing we did had any shelf life. Not one of us stood up and said, 'Dammit, stop!' I don't know what Thompson's committee will find as the cause, but I know what I find. We are the cause! We were not ready! We did not do our job! We were rolling the dice, hoping that things would come together by launch day, when in our hearts we knew it would take a miracle. We were pushing the schedule and betting that the Cape would slip before we did.

My remarks were received with silence, no movement, no shifting in the seats. The controllers, each and every one, knew what I meant. I was just putting their thoughts into words.

From this day forward, Flight Control will be known by two words: 'Tough and Competent.' 'Tough' means we are forever accountable for what we do or what we fail to do. We will never again compromise our responsibilities. Every time we walk into Mission Control we will know what we stand for. 'Competent' means we will never take anything for granted. We will never be found short in our knowledge and in our skills. Mission Control will be perfect. When you leave this meeting today you will go to your office and the first thing you will do there is to write 'Tough and Competent' on your blackboards. It will never be erased. Each day when you enter the room these words will remind you of the price paid by Grissom, White, and Chaffee. These words are the price of admission to the ranks of Mission Control."

–Speech given by Gene Kranz to the rest of the mission control team three days after the Apollo 1 tragedy, including Gene's later descriptions of his feelings at the time.

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"During the actual process of flying spacecraft, or flying the Spirit of St. Louis, one doesn't think of one's self as being a hero or historical figure. One does it because the challenge is there, and one feels reasonably qualified to accomplish it. And it's later on, I suppose, perhaps at the suggestion of other people, that you say, 'Well, yes, maybe.'" –Alan Shepherd, First American in space, 5th man to walk on the moon

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"Our future remains as potent as it was in Goddard's time. Past accomplishments found thoughts of greater conquests. As Goddard's dreams resulted in the spacecraft that today's astronauts are crewing, advancing man may discover that thought and reality transpose like energy and matter. We can now determine to a large degree our physical, mental, spiritual, and environmental evolution. Limitless courses are open to us." –Charles Lindbergh, Forward to Carrying the Fire by Michael Collins

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"But as it brings satisfaction, it also brings sadness, for on rare occasions the T-38 smashes into the ground with a good friend or two in it, and then the trip to Arlington Cemetery wipes out all the small talk, and all the joy of aileron roll, for a long time to come." –Michael Collins, discussing NASA's T-38 trainer, and the series of plane crashes in the early space program

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"The astronauts who lost their lives serve as an inspiration for us all. None of them would have wanted to give her or his life in vain. None would have wanted us to stop striving for the stars. If anything, we must continue to preserve their dreams." –Doug Fulmer, AD ADSTRA, July/August, 1991 | Plaque at the Space Mirror Memorial, Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex

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"The stars don't look bigger, but they do look brighter." –Sally Ride, first American women in space, STS-7, STS-41-G