Leroy Chiao Quotes

I've completed half of my space training at Space City in Moscow. I love adventure, and I've been training in a centrifuge and MiG Fighter with a view to going into space and being a spokesman for space exploration!

A journey into space is the greatest adventure I can imagine.

I think here in America the space programme was such an enticing thing to be going on, that the thought of a family being able to go into space and live up there was really kind of mind-bending at the time.

The thing I like most about flying in space is not the view. The thing I like about it is doing something I feel very, very strongly about.

If we want to go to space with humans, that's for fun not for science. Human adventures in space are just sporting events.

The bigger shift in space exploration won't be commercial crew - that will be a validation of something we already knew was going to be the case. It will be when you have a fully private company launching everyday citizens. When people know people in their communities who have been to space on a daily basis.

It's clear that the only thing that is inhibiting us from doing further human exploration of space is money and the will to do it.

Walking in space is absolutely the most exhilarating part of a mission. The view is just incredible.

America's love affair with traveling into outer space is deeply entrenched.

Our focus is to get citizen astronauts to experience the 'overview effect,' return to Earth, and then impact their communities.

The space program is a peaceful project. The next door is opening. We have to go farther into space. But, before that, we need to develop far more improved nutrition and more advanced spacecraft.

I have had the privilege to be a member of many high-performance teams at NASA, both on and off the planet.

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.

Obviously I'd like NASA to follow their charter - the exploration of our solar system and beyond. I'd like to see people someday go to Mars.

I believe you'll see a low Earth orbit space travel business begin.

I've always been into things like exploring and science on the frontiers. I had pictures of space up in my room way back in middle school, right next to the boy band posters!

I choose to go to the Moon with artists. In 2023, as the host, I would like to invite 6 to 8 artists from around the world to join me on this mission to the Moon.

The first time I went into space was just so much more than you could imagine or prepare yourself for.

I was the 128th human in space. So I didn't really sweat about it.

My first date was with Endeavour, and my last date is going to be with Endeavour, as far as space shuttles are concerned.

When someone like Richard Branson goes up there and starts doing chartered flights... and you can look back on Earth and see the Earth's curvature, I'll believe the Earth is a globe.

I'm looking forward to getting to space, looking back to earth out the copula window. I think all of it is going to be a completely new experience that I can't quite predict.

The bottom line is 2018 should finally be the year where we see the early stages of broad-based commercial space tourism appear. Demand will certainly be driven by the early successes or failures of those missions, the marketing of those missions, as well as the propensity for tourists to become repeat flyers.

Anyone that's ever gone to space is always wanting to go back.