You know, being a test pilot isn't always the healthiest business in the world. -Alan Shepard Business
It's a very sobering feeling to be up in space and realize that one's safety factor was determined by the lowest bidder on a government contract. -Alan Shepard Space
It's a very sobering feeling to be up in space and realize that one's safety factor was determined by the lowest bidder on a government contract. -Alan Shepard Government
I think all of us certainly believed the statistics which said that probably 88% chance of mission success and maybe 96% chance of survival. And we were willing to take those odds. -Alan Shepard Success
I'd like to say I was smart enough to finish six grades in five years, but I think perhaps the teacher was just glad to get rid of me. -Alan Shepard Teacher
I think all of us certainly believed the statistics which said that probably 88% chance of mission success and maybe 96% chance of survival. And we were willing to take those odds. -Alan Shepard Chance
And I think that still is true of this business - which is basically research and development - that you probably spend more time in planning and training and designing for things to go wrong, and how you cope with them, than you do for things to go right. -Alan Shepard Business
You have to be there not for the fame and glory and recognition and being a page in a history book, but you have to be there because you believe your talent and ability can be applied effectively to operation of the spacecraft. -Alan Shepard Space
The pilot looked at his cues of attitude and speed and orientation and so on and responded as he would from the same cues in an airplane, but there was no way it flew the same. The simulators had showed us that. -Alan Shepard Attitude
