Space Quote of the Month - December 2000 - January 2001:

"...and from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas, and God bless all of you - all of you on the good Earth."

- Bill Anders, Jim Lovell, and Frank Borman,
in lunar orbit, 24 Dec 1968.

November - December 2000:

"Whoopee! Man, that may have been a small one for Neil, but that's a long one for me..."

- Charles "Pete" Conrad, Apollo 12 commander,
(parodying Neil Armstrong's words) as he became the third man to set foot on the moon, on 19 November 1969.

October - November 2000:

"The Congress hereby declares that it is the policy of the United States that activities in space should be devoted to peaceful purposes for the benefit of all mankind."

- From the “National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958”, the piece of legislation that created NASA.

September - October 2000:

"Why don't you fix your little problem and light this candle?"

- Alan Shepard, America's first astronaut,
to flight controllers after numerous delays launching the Mercury capsule he was waiting in.

August 2000:

"I do not know what I may appear to the world; but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble, or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me."

- Sir Isaac Newton, scientist (1642-1727)

July 2000:

"That's one small step for a man,
one giant leap for mankind."

- Neil Armstrong, first human to set foot on the Moon,
20 July 1969

June 2000:

"The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science. Whoever does not know it and can no longer wonder, no longer marvel, is as good as dead..."

- Albert Einstein, in "The World As I See It"

May 2000:

"...if we are to win the battle that is now going on around the world between freedom and tyranny, the dramatic achievements in space which occurred in recent weeks should have made clear to all of us, as did Sputnik in 1957, the impact of this adventure on the minds of men everywhere... Now it is time to take longer strides - time for this nation to take a clearly leading role in space achievement, which in many ways may hold the key to our future on Earth...
We go into space because whatever mankind must undertake, free men must fully share...

I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth. No single space project... will be more exciting, or more impressive to mankind, or more important in the long-range exploration of space, and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish..."

- President John F. Kennedy,
addressing a special joint session of Congress,
25 May 1961

April 2000:

"Failure Is Not An Option!"

- Actor Ed Harris,
playing Gene Kranz in the "Apollo 13" movie,
1995

NOTE: We didn't know at the time that this line was made up for the movie, and we had attributed it directly to Gene Kranz. Gene liked the line so much, he used it as the title of his autobiography! What he actually said was:

"We've never lost an American in space - we sure as hell aren't going to lose one now. This crew is coming home!"

January 2000:

"As we explore the reaches of space, let us go to the new worlds together -- not as new worlds to be conquered, but as a new adventure to be shared."

- Richard Nixon inaugural speech,
20 Jan 1969

December 1999:

"...and from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas, and God bless all of you - all of you on the good Earth."

STS-103 awaits launch - December 1999

NOTE: This was the very first "Space Quote" on our site. It was not attributed to the Apollo 8 astronauts (as it is on the repeat the following year), but it is clear from the quote who it was from. At the time, Space Shuttle Discovery was on-orbit on mission STS-103, so the quote was accompanied by the picture above, and the message
"Happy Holidays to everyone on Earth (and in orbit)!!!"