11 quotes
Family Support for Astronauts' Decisions
Reporter 1#
Gentlemen, I'd like to know from each of you whether your wives and children had anything to say about this. Mr. Slayton?
Deke Slayton
Uh, mine thinks it's fine.
Reporter 2#
Thank you. Mr. Schirra?
Wally Schirra
Uh, they're all for it.
John Glenn
You know, I don't think any of us could really go on with something like this if we didn't have pretty good backing at home. Really. My wife's attitude toward this has been the same as it's been all along through my flying. If it's what I want to do, she's behind it, and by golly, my kids are too, a hundred percent!
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
The Risks of Volunteering for Space Missions
Recruiter #1
I guess you've heard about our project. We're going up against the Russians all the way. It's got the highest...
[gags]
Recruiter #2
Priority.
Recruitrer #1
It's a hazardous undertaking. In fact, it's extremely hazardous, if you get my meaning.
Recruiter #2
It's so hazardous, that, if, uh, you decide not to volunteer, it will not be held against you in any way.
Alan Shepard
Sounds dangerous.
Recruiter #1
It is.
Recruiter #2
Very dangerous.
Alan Shepard
Count me in.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Breaking News: Sound Barrier Shattered
Reporter
I'm going to place a long distance call to Los Angeles.
Air Force Major
Who are you calling?
[resets the phone]
Reporter
The press! This is big news! The sound barrier's finally been broken!
Air Force Major
No, sir, no press!
Reporter
What?
Air Force Major
No word of this going beyond the flight-line!
Reporter
Hey, come on, now! This is big news! We need coverage for this!
[inserts a coin]
Air Force Major
No, sir, sorry! No press! Those are orders. National security.
Reporter
But the war's over!
Air Force Major
Well, look, pal. Maybe they don't want someone to know.
Reporter
Who?
Air Force Major
The Russians, maybe.
Reporter
The Russians?! They're our allies!
Air Force Major
Well, anyway, somebody wanted it that way. And that's the way it is.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
A Request for Assistance
Chuck Yeager
Hey, Ridley, ya got any ]? Loan me some, will you — I'll pay you back later.
[[w:Beemans gum|Beeman's]
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Communication Under Pressure in Spaceflight
Alan Shepard
Dear Lord - please don't let me fuck up.
Gordon Cooper
I didn't quite copy that. Say again, please.
[at launch control center]
Alan Shepard
Uh, I said everything is A-OK!
Gordon Cooper
Well, I thought that's what you said. He says everything is A-OK!
[amused; switches channels]
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Aviators vs. Pilots in Military Context
Recruiter #1
Are you sure the Navy's got good pilots?
[seasick]
Recruiter #2
They call them aviators in the Navy. They say they're better than pilots.
[also seasick]
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
John Glenn's Ambition for Space Exploration
John Glenn
It's important to America to get a man up there first. I'm planning on being the first man to ride the rocket.
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Debate Over Spacecraft Design Features
Gordon Cooper
Uh, where are you putting the window?
German Scientist #1
Window? There is no window.
Gus Grissom
No window? What about the hatch?
German Scientist #1
The hatch?
Gus Grissom
Yeah, the hatch. We need a hatch with explosive bolts that we can open ourselves.
German Scientist #1
I think there is something you do not understand. This is the final form of the capsule. No hatch.
Deke Slayton
What if the automatic controls went out?
German Scientist #1
Backups, checks, etcetera. This would not happen.
Deke Slayton
I said, what would happen if it did?
Scott Carpenter
The pilot would have to fly it back.
German Scientist #2
This is the way it is.
John Glenn
You know, I wonder how the press is going to feel about this.
German Scientist #2
The press? What does the press have to say about this?
German Scientist #1
Yeah, what do they have to say about it?
Gordon Cooper
You boys know what makes this bird go up? Funding makes this bird go up.
Gus Grissom
That's right. No bucks, no Buck Rogers.
Gordon Cooper
And, uh, the press over there, they want to see Buck Rogers.
Deke Slayton
And that's us. Buck Rogers.
John Glenn
You see, those fellas over there, they've been making us out as the seven finest, and bravest pilots in all America. And if a story were to come out in the press that we were not being allowed to fly as pilots...
Alan Shepard
We want a window.
German Scientist #2
Uh, there could maybe be in future capsules, be a window, right here.
Gus Grissom
No, that's where the hatch with explosive bolts goes.
German Scientist #1
The hatch with the explosive...? Yeah. There could be a hatch with explosive bolts on the capsule.
Alan Shepard
That is a spacecraft, sir. We do not refer to it as a "capsule". Spacecraft.
German Scientist #1
Yeah. The hatch with explosive bolts on the... spacecraft. There. And there will be pitch and yaw thrusters which will enable the astronaut occupant—
Deke Slayton
The pilot. "Astronaut occupant"?
German Scientist #1
Yeah, the astronaut... pilot to have some...
German Scientist #1
To have...
German Scientist #1
... control of the re-entry procedures.
John Glenn
Thank you. we appreciate it. You wouldn't mind if we had the press over here take a few photos of us by our spacecraft now, would you?
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Perils of Space Travel Expressed by Yeager
Chuck Yeager
Anyone who goes up in that damn thing is gonna be spam in a can.
[about the original Mercury capsule, which lacked pilot controls]
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Gordo Cooper's Historic Space Achievement
Narrator
The Mercury program was over. Four years later, astronaut Gus Grissom was killed, along with astronauts ] and ], when fire swept through their ]. But on that glorious day in May 1963, Gordo Cooper went higher, farther, and faster than any other American. Twenty-two complete orbits around the world, he was the last American ever to go into space alone. And for a brief moment, Gordo Cooper became the greatest pilot anyone had ever seen.
[closing narration; [w:Ed White (astronaut)|White; [w:Roger B. Chaffee|Chaffee; [w:Apollo 1|Apollo capsule]
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Confronting the Demon of the Sound Barrier
Narrator
There was a demon that lived in the air. They said whoever challenged him would die. Their controls would freeze up, their planes would buffet wildly, and they would disintegrate. The demon lived at Mach 1 on the meter, 750 miles an hour, where the air could no longer move out of the way. He lived behind a barrier through which they said no man could ever pass. They called it... the ]. Then, they built a small plane, the ], to try and break the sound barrier. And men came to the high desert in California to ride it. They were called test pilots. And no one knew their names.
[opening narration; [w:sound barrier|sound barrier; [w:Bell X-1|X-1]
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.