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. Alan Shepard More Quotes by Alan Shepard More Quotes From Alan Shepard I realized up there that our planet is not infinite. It's fragile. That may not be obvious to a lot of folks, and it's tough that people are fighting each other here on Earth instead of trying to get together and live on this planet. We look pretty vulnerable in the darkness of space. Alan Shepard fighting space peace When I first looked back at the Earth, standing on the Moon I cried Alan Shepard space moon earth 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. Alan Shepard safety government space The fact that every part of this ship was built by the low bidder. Alan Shepard ships lows facts If somebody'd said before the flight, 'Are you going to get carried away looking at the Earth from the Moon?' I would have say, 'No, no way.' But yet when I first looked back at the Earth, standing on the Moon, I cried. Alan Shepard space moon earth Why don't you fix your little problem and light this candle? Alan Shepard light moon littles You may not have any extra talent, but maybe you are just paying more attention to what you are doing. Alan Shepard talent may attention I just wanted to be the first one to fly for America, not because I'd end up in the pages of history books. Alan Shepard pages book america Why don't you light that candle ? Alan Shepard candle light science You've done it in the simulator so many times, you don't have a real sense of being excited when the flight is going on. You're excited before, but as soon as the liftoff occurs, you are busy doing what you have to do. Alan Shepard flight done real 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. Alan Shepard pilots fields believe And I think that still is true of this business - which is basically research and development - that you probably spend more time in planning and training and designing for things to go wrong, and how you cope with them, than you do for things to go right. Alan Shepard research-and-development design thinking I must admit, maybe I am a piece of history after all. Alan Shepard pieces The pilot looked at his cues of attitude and speed and orientation and so on and responded as he would from the same cues in an airplane, but there was no way it flew the same. The simulators had showed us that. Alan Shepard airplane pilots attitude Got more dirt than ball. Here we go again. Alan Shepard dirt balls golf I guess those of us who have been with NASA kind of understand the tremendous excitement and thrills and celebrations and national pride that went with the Apollo program is just something you're not going to create again, probably until we go to Mars. Alan Shepard apollo mars pride Roger, liftoff, and the clock is started. Alan Shepard roger aviation airplane We're going to see passengers in space stations in 15 years, who will be able to buy a ticket and spend a weekend in space. Alan Shepard weekend space years 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. Alan Shepard discipline school thinking I'd like to say I was smart enough to finish six grades in five years, but I think perhaps the teacher was just glad to get rid of me. Alan Shepard smart teacher thinking
