Michael P. Anderson Quotes

Two months after I got out of test pilot school, I saw an advert that said NASA was recruiting more astronauts. The best job you could have as a test pilot was being an astronaut, so I volunteered.

I can't think of anything specific growing up that pointed me toward NASA at all. I was interested in the Moon landings just about the same as everyone else of my generation. But I never really thought about being an astronaut or working in space myself.

Ever since I was a kid, I always wanted to be an astronaut.

It so happened that my goals kind of matched my career progression toward becoming an astronaut.

When I got to college, I discovered how many incredible opportunities NASA offered students pursuing a career in the space industry.

Even if my job for the day is cleaning the vents or fixing the toilet, it still feels good to be a part of the space program and advancing exploration.

He who commands an Apollo flight will not command a second one.

I didn't go into the NASA program to pick up rocks or to go the moon or anything else. I went in there because I was a military officer, and that was the next notch in my profession.

Rockets are cool. There's no getting around that.

I've always hankered after going into space and walking on the moon and Mars. I did want to be an astronaut, and had there been a manned space flight programme in the U.K., I would have been knocking on the door.

I had always been interested in the space program, and I didn't know if I could be an astronaut like I'd dreamt about when I was a little kid - to me it sounded kind of silly, someone grow up to be an astronaut - but, when I was in my 20s, I thought maybe I can get a job with NASA or a contractor, do something with the space program.

I did not come to NASA to make history.

My dad worked at NASA his whole career; he's a research scientist.

At age 12, it was obvious. I had to go to Space Camp.

In high school, I was selected for NASA's Math & Science program. I'd hop on the yellow school bus and head up to Cape Canaveral.

I first told my parents that I wanted to be an astronaut when I was 3 years old.

Aviation - and space travel, in particular - have always been especially captivating.

I wanted to be an astronaut when I was a kid. I grew up in Houston. Gordo Cooper was my favorite astronaut.

I didn't really decide that I wanted to be an astronaut for sure until the end of college.

If my vision was good enough, I'd be an astronaut.

I had been here five years already, training very hard, learning about the systems, the shuttle, the station systems. But, everything really became real when I started to work with them.

All the traditional STEM fields, the science, technology, engineering, and math fields, are stoked when you dream big in an agency such as NASA.

I think I was very interested in the space program as a kid, watching the first Apollo missions to the moon, and it's something I thought that would be a lot of, of fun and exciting and a very worthwhile job.

I've put a lot of my life into making it possible to fly in space at all.

My background is in physics, so I was the mission specialist, who is sort of like the flight engineer on an airplane.