"I realized up there that our planet is not infinite. It's fragile. That may not be obvious to a lot of folks, and it's tough that people are fighting each other here on earth instead of trying to get together and live on this planet. We look pretty vulnerable in the darkness of space."- Alan Shepard, "What Does Moon Flight Mean Now", The Seattle Times
"You develop an instant global consciousness, a people orientation, an intense dissatisfaction with the state of the world, and a compulsion to do something about it. From out there on the Moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, 'Look at that, you son of a b***h.-- Edgar Mitchell
"The biggest joy was on the way home. in my cockpit window every two minutes the Earth, the Moon, the Sun, and a whole 360-degree panorama of the heavens. And that was a powerful, overwhelming experience. And suddenly I realized that the molecules of my body, and the molecules of the spacecraft, the molecules in the body of my partners, were prototyped and manufactured in some ancient generation of stars. And that was an overwhelming sense of oneness, of connectedness. It wasn't them and us, it was that's me, that's all of it, it's one thing. And it was accompanied by an ecstasy, a sense of 'oh my god, wow, yes,' an insight, an epiphany."- Edgar Mitchell - In the Shadow of the Moon
"NASA is not about the 'adventure of human space exploration,' we are in the deadly serious business of saving the species. All human exploration's bottom line is about preserving our species over the long haul."- John Young, from his essay, The Big Picture
"The Space Program has never been an entitlement, it's an investment in the future - an investment in technology, jobs, international respect and geopolitical leadership, and perhaps most importantly in the inspiration and education of our youth. Those best and brightest minds at NASA and throughout the multitudes of private contractors, large and small, did not join the team to design windmills or redesign gas pedals, but to live their dreams of once again taking us where no man has gone before." - Eugene Cernan, September 2011, testifying before Congress on the future of the Space Program.
* Yes, we know there's a controversy about Armstrong's specific words, but his point is the same.
NASA Quotes: The Apollo Missions to the Moon, Pilgrimage.space
Billionaires Race to Privatize & Monopolize Space as Earth Burns & Workers Organize, Amy Goodman on Democracy NOW, Jul 2021
The Space Race, History.com editors, History.com, updated Feb 2020
Space Spinoffs: The Technology To Reach The Moon Was Put To Use Back On Earth, Jacob Margolis and Christopher Intagliata on NPR, Jul 2019
Yep, it's bleak, says expert who tested 1970s end-of-the-world prediction, Edward Helmore in The Guardian, Jul 2021
Meet the 82-year-old astronaut who flew on Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin flight, Sarah Jackson on Business Insider, Jul 2021
SpaceX Rocket Flies 10 Times as Reusability Gets Surprisingly Routine, Edd Gent in Singularity Hub, May 2021
SpaceX launches first astronauts on a reused rocket, Nadia Drake in National Geographic, Apr 2021
One Small Step for Man" or "a Man"? Amy Stamm at Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Jul 2019
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