Alan Shepard Quotes

American astronaut, first American in space, lunar explorer (1923–1998)

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Alan Bartlett Shepard, Jr. (November 18, 1923 – July 21, 1998) (Rear Admiral, USN, Ret.) was the second person and the first American in space. He later commanded the Apollo 14 mission, and was the fifth person to walk on the moon.

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Alternative Names: Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr.

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The fact that every part of this ship was built by the low bidder.

I just wanted to be the first one to fly for America, not because I'd end up in the pages of history books.

If we had said 30 years ago that we were going to have only two incidents with casualties, we would have thought, 'Boy, that's great. To me, that indicates that the program has really exceeded what the early expectations were.

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.

No way that any astronaut worth his salt volunteered for the space program to become a hero. You don't select astronauts who want fame and fortune. You select them because they're the best test pilots in the world, they know it, and it's a personal challenge for them. And the astronauts of today are exactly the same.

This is the first time that astronauts of the first group have exhibited things that are personal and sentimental to them. We hope it will encourage youngsters to follow in our footsteps.

I can hit it farther on the moon. But actually, my swing is better here on Earth.

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.

I know you're all saying I can go to the moon but I can't find Pasadena.

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.

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.

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.

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.

There were similarities between these two incidents. The similarity was too much success … over-confidence and complacency, quite frankly.

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.