Alan Shepard quotes

Alan Shepard was an American astronaut and naval aviator, recognized as the first American to travel into space. His historic flight aboard Freedom 7 marked a key milestone in the early era of space exploration. He later commanded Apollo 14 and became the fifth person to walk on the Moon. Here are 53 of his quotes:

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)
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. View quote
Alan Shepard
I just wanted to be the first one to fly for America, not because I'd end up in the pages of history books. View quote
Alan Shepard
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. View quote
Alan Shepard
The fact that every part of this ship was built by the low bidder. View quote
Alan Shepard
I must admit, maybe I am a piece of history after all. View quote
Alan Shepard
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. View quote
Alan Shepard
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. View quote
Alan Shepard
There's no question that all the generations got excited about the first flights, with Kennedy's inspiration to go to the moon, leaving the planet for the first time, and fortunately coming back. View quote
Alan Shepard
I can hit it farther on the moon. But actually, my swing is better here on Earth. View quote
Alan Shepard
The same way people are now paying a couple thousand dollars to fly to other parts of the world, people will be paying $50,000 to spend a weekend on a space station. (Alan Shepard)
We need a continuing presence in space. View quote
Alan Shepard
I know you're all saying I can go to the moon but I can't find Pasadena. View quote
Alan Shepard
We worked with the engineers in the design and construction and testing phases in those various areas, then we would get back together at the end of the week and brief each other as to what had gone on. View quote
Alan Shepard
We had some adverse conditions in the '60s, in the '70s and the '80s. The agency has risen above that in the past and will rise above that again. View quote
Alan Shepard
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. View quote
Alan Shepard
Now that we've lost Alan Shepard, I can't help feeling that something is wrong with this picture; astronauts aren't supposed to grow old and leave this Earth forever. In our memories, they remain as Shepard was on that sunny Friday morning in May 1961, when he lay inside a tiny Mercury capsule ready to be hurled into space atop a Redstone booster. View quote
Alan Shepard
You may not have any extra talent, but maybe you are just paying more attention to what you are doing. View quote
Alan Shepard
You know, being a test pilot isn't always the healthiest business in the world. View quote
Alan Shepard
Obviously I was challenged by becoming a Naval aviator, by landing aboard aircraft carriers and so on. View quote
Alan Shepard
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)
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. View quote
Alan Shepard
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. View quote
Alan Shepard
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. View quote
Alan Shepard
We wanted to be in great shape, we wanted to be able to cope with zero gravity, we wanted to be able to cope with accelerations and decelerations and so on. So all of us trained so that we were probably in the best physical condition we had ever been in up until that point. View quote
Alan Shepard

Alan Shepard

Alan Shepard - Image
Occupation: American Astronaut
Born: November 18, 1923
Died: July 21, 1998
Quotes count: 53
Wikipedia: Alan Shepard

Related authors

John Glenn - thumbnail
John Glenn  8 
American Astronaut
Gus Grissom - thumbnail
Gus Grissom  3 
American Astronaut
Edgar Mitchell - thumbnail
Edgar Mitchell  5 
American Astronaut
Gordon Cooper - thumbnail
Gordon Cooper  2 
American Astronaut
Scott Carpenter - thumbnail
Scott Carpenter  5 
American Astronaut
Buzz Aldrin - thumbnail
Buzz Aldrin  181 
American Astronaut
Wally Schirra - thumbnail
Wally Schirra  23 
American Astronaut
Alan Bean - thumbnail
Alan Bean  19 
American Astronaut
Yuri Gagarin - thumbnail
Yuri Gagarin  14 
Soviet Astronaut
Neil Armstrong - thumbnail
Neil Armstrong  66 
American Astronaut