“It was especially hard for me, as a professional pilot. In all of my y...” — Gus Grissom Quote

It was especially hard for me, as a professional pilot. In all of my years of flying - including combat in Korea - this was the first time that my aircraft and I had not come back together. In my entire career as a pilot, 'Liberty Bell' was the first thing I had ever lost.

I had never been much of a science-fiction or Buck Rogers fan. I was more interested in what was going on right now than in the centuries to come.

Do good work.

As I told a friend of mine once who asked me why I joined Mercury, I think if I had been alive 150 years ago, I might have wanted to go out and help open up the West.

By the time I got into test work, it was dying out. It wasn't really flight test at all; it was mostly testing new gadgets.

I have significant concerns about reducing the 188th Fighter Wing's capabilities, and will fight tooth and nail against attempts to reduce its personnel or take away aircraft.

In a fighter, you can't hold 4 G's for several minutes, not most aircraft. I've been able to feel that for a few seconds. But to have that for an extended period was just truly amazing.

The truth is ships and aircraft have been vanishing with tragic regularity in every part of the world since they were invented.

You don't ask if an aircraft is being flown by a man or a woman - if it flies, it means it's doing the job it is meant to. The same is with cinema, and all that matters is whether the film works or not.