Jim Lovell 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.

Not long after I got my test pilot qualification, I realised there was no manned space flight programme in the U.K., and there was unlikely to be one.

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

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

I knew I wanted to be a part of NASA in any case, and so I chose my goals in education to be consistent with working at NASA even as, you know, a scientist.

I am not sure what the future holds for me personally, but I envision myself continuing to work on spaceflight programs.

Well, it's still a bit uncertain, but I will do the consulting, and I'll see how I can contribute. But I'm sure whatever I do will involve the space program. That's where my passion is.

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

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

What I'm trying to do is, is to make a significant difference in space flight. And help make space flight accessible to almost anyone.

Fortunately, I got called down to NASA for an interview. And one thing led to the next, and one day I got that call. I've been here about seven years now and am really enjoying it.

By refocusing our space program on Mars for America's future, we can restore the sense of wonder and adventure in space exploration that we knew in the summer of 1969. We won the moon race; now it's time for us to live and work on Mars, first on its moons and then on its surface.

We constantly learn new lessons up here. The experiences we gather will enable us to establish a long-term station on the moon and to go on to Mars.

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.

And, so I set my goals on astronaut because, as a military aviator, it was, I considered that to be about the peak of a flying career.

I've always loved airplanes and flight. The space program was really important to me as a kid. I still have a photo of Armstrong and Aldrin on the moon in my living room.

We're not going to get humans to Mars until at least the mid-2030s, and the world is going to change by then.

Space exploration is important research to our economic and national defense, and America's space program is a symbol of our success as a scientifically and technologically advanced nation.

Not until the space shuttle started flying did NASA concede that some astronauts didn't have to be fast-jet pilots. And at that point, sure enough, women started becoming astronauts.

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

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.

I was a naval officer and aviator. I tested airplanes and got selected to be an astronaut later on.

I think it's really a sign of great American strength that we do invest the money we do in technology, in these hard projects, in NASA.

Spoiler alert: I did not become an astronaut.

NASA is a big organization with a lot of needs that have to be met. So there are a lot of opportunities.