Fred Haise Quotes

The fastest manned vehicle in history was Apollo 10. It reached 25,000 mph.

After being once in space, I was keen to go back there. But it didn't happen.

I would much rather fly on Soyuz than the shuttle.

As someone who flew two space capsules and twice landed in the ocean, I can attest from personal experience how much logistics work is needed to get you home.

The Soyuz craft weighs tons, and you're lying on the floor of it on your back. But the Russians do tell you, remember, before you land, stop talking so you don't bite your tongue off.

One of the jokes on our flight is that, if we have a normal entry day going, the plan is for me... to actually take the orbiter first and fly it for maybe 10 or 15 seconds and then hand it on over to Scooter.

You have seen on TV how hard it is to go up 129,000 feet and how hard it is to come down.

We were only on orbit a little over two days, so we had no adverse effects from being weightless.

If we want to travel into the future, we just need to go fast. Really fast. And I think the only way we're ever likely to do that is by going into space.

The space shuttle has been a fantastic vehicle. It is unlike any other thing that we've ever built. Its capabilities have carried several hundred people into space.

Every shuttle mission's been successful.

In 2009 I went up on the space shuttle. I was in space for 16 days and docked at the space station for 11 days. The entire crew did five space walks, of which I was involved with three of them. When you're doing a space walk, you always have a buddy with you. It's a very dangerous environment when you're doing a space walk.

They forbade me from flying, despite all my protests and arguments. After being once in space, I was desperately keen to go back there. But it didn't happen.

In the Soyuz, the little Russian capsule, you can actually hear the banging of the big shield, the big heat shield on the bottom, as it slowly erodes away from the heat and pieces of it fly off like sparks across your window, and it's an interesting thing to ride through, you know.

I slept just floating in the middle of the flight deck, the upper deck of the space shuttle.

The excitement really didn't start to build until the trailer - which was carrying me, with a space suit with ventilation and all that sort of stuff - pulled up to the launch pad.

Because when we're in space, my job is primarily getting us there and getting us back.

I still dream about being on the space station with the feeling of being weightless. The weightlessness is the most amazing, relaxing and natural feeling.

Living inside the shuttle was a little like camping out. We ended up sleeping in our seats. You had to pay attention to housekeeping, not get things too dirty.

I've had a chance to fly a lot of different airplanes, but it was nothing like the shuttle ride.

In orbit, you're keyed up and aware of everything going on, every little noise, anything that may have special meaning because of where you are.

We crossed the Himalayas in less than two minutes, and then you realise, 'Oh My God, within an hour and a half, we have gone around the whole planet.'

People are genuinely interested about what it's like to experience spaceflight and try to get some of our perspectives on it.

I was lucky enough to fly in Concorde, and you get up to 65,000 feet, and I could see the curvature of the Earth.

You know, west Texas is already beautiful to view from the ground. I can't even imagine what it must look like as you're floating down to Earth in a capsule making its return trip from outer space.