Duane G. Carey Quotes

So you're back from outer space.

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

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.

When you launch in a rocket, you're not really flying that rocket. You're just sort of hanging on.

It feels great to be home, great to be back as a part of the community.

When the space shuttle's engines cut off, and you're finally in space, in orbit, weightless... I remember unstrapping from my seat, floating over to the window, and that's when I got my first view of Earth. Just a spectacular view, and a chance to see our planet as a planet.

It seems like in the beginning of my flight, the space dreams were rare. And now, almost 150 days into it, the Earth dreams are more of the rare ones.

The most uncomfortable thing about going to space is coming home. It's a little strange to get used to gravity again.

Remember, I am not trying to orbit the earth. It is a simple elevator ride for 20 minutes.

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.

As an astronaut, especially during launch, half of the risk of a six-month flight is in the first nine minutes.

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

By the time I land in Iowa, I feel like my mind is more open to the reality of being back home and focusing on the problems of the people in my district.

When you're getting ready to launch into space, you're sitting on a big explosion waiting to happen.

I could have gone on flying through space forever.

The rocket had worked perfectly, and all I had to do was survive the reentry forces. You do it all, in a flight like that, in a rather short period of time, just 16 minutes as a matter of fact.

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.

When many astronauts go to space, they see the insignificant size of the earth and vastness of space, and they become very religious, because they have seen the Signs of Allah.

When you talk to crews that went to Mir or have gone up to International Space Station, they say that you go through different phases of adaptation or getting used to the space environment.

I'd love to go back to space, I don't know any astronaut who doesn't want to.

I'd love to go into space again if there were a mission to Mars. I'd also love to go to a completely different planetary system, out of our solar system.

On this flight, my fourth spaceflight, I also became the record holder for total days in space and single longest mission.

Now, space has its own unique smell. So whenever a vehicle docks, or if guys are out doing a spacewalk, the smell of space when you open up the hatch is very distinct. It's kind of like a burning-metal smell, if you can imagine what that would smell like.

My first mission was six and a half months. We weren't exactly sure how long it was going to be because I went up and back on the space shuttle, which was dependent on weather for launch and landing.