These Apollo mission quotes celebrate the 12 — that’s currently how many people have walked on the Moon or any other world in all of human history. NASA’s Apollo missions landed on the Moon between 1969-1972. The Space quotes and Moon quotes are from the mouths of the famous astronauts who walked on the surface of our nearest neighbor and the brave explorers who made that accomplishment a reality.
Click Names to Jump to Astronaut Quotes
- Neil Armstrong Quotes
- Buzz Aldrin Quotes
- Michael Collins Quotes
- Pete Conrad Quotes
- Alan Bean Quotess
- Alan Shepard Quotes
- Ed Mitchell Quotes
- David Scott Quotes
- James Irwin Quotes
- John Young Quotes
- Charles Duke Quotes
- Eugene Cernan Quotes
- Harrison Schmitt Quotes
Apollo 11 Quotes
Apollo 12
Apollo 14
Apollo 15
Apollo 16
Apollo 17
Neil Armstrong Quotes – from the Apollo 11 Astronaut
“For those who may ask what they can do to honor Neil, we have a simple request. Honor his example of service, accomplishment and modesty, and the next time you walk outside on a clear night and see the moon smiling down at you, think of Neil Armstrong and give him a wink.” – Family statement after Armstrong’s death
Neil Armstrong Famous Quote:
“That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” – Neil Armstrong
“I think we’re going to the Moon because it’s in the nature of the human being to face challenges. It’s by the nature of his deep inner soul. We’re required to do these things just as salmon swim upstream.” — Neil Armstrong
“I am, and ever will be, a white-socks, pocket protector, nerdy engineer. Born under the Second Law of Thermodynamics, steeped in the steam tables, in love with free body diagrams, transformed by Laplace and propelled by compressible flow… Science is about what is. Engineering is about what can be.” — Neil Armstrong, National Press Club on February 22, 2000
“It’s a brilliant surface in that sunlight. The horizon seems quite close to you because the curvature is so much more pronounced than here on earth. It’s an interesting place to be. I recommend it.” — Neil Armstrong, describing the Moon
“The method we used to descend from orbit to the surface of an alien world worked, but it would have been far more efficient and far less traumatic if we could just beam down.” – Neil Armstrong, Star Trek Convention 2004
“We have learned how to navigate to the moon. That is like the ancient Chinese mainlanders learning how to get to Formosa; Formosa is the moon. After we settle it, we jump off from there to Mars, just like they went next to the Philippines. And from there across our vast galaxy. If the Austronesians can sail in there boats and scatter into settlements across Oceania, we can take our spacecraft and scatter and settle across the Milky Way. It may take even longer than it took the Austronesians, but if they did it, so can we, because they are us.”– Neil Armstrong, interview by James R Hansen, published in Discovery Magazine, June 2019
“I flew to the moon not so much to go there, but as part of developing the system that would allow it to happen.”– Neil Armstrong, First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong by James R. Hansen
“Pilots take no special joy in walking: pilots like flying. Pilots generally take pride in a good landing, not in getting out of the vehicle.”– Neil Armstrong
“Mystery creates wonder and wonder is the basis of man’s desire to understand.” – Neil Armstrong
“Tomorrow, we the crew of Apollo 11 are privileged to represent the United States in our first attempt to take man to another heavenly body.” – Neil Armstrong
Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin Quotes – Apollo 11 Astronaut
“What I want to remember most is the glance between Neil and myself, with the engine shutoff, just that second after we touched down, because we had just completed the most critical door opening for space exploration in all of humanity.”– Buzz Aldrin
“I don’t know why people who have not been on rockets continue to ask, ‘You’re not scared?’ No we were not scared.. until something happens, then it’s time to get scared.”– Buzz Aldrin
“Let me say, as I sit here before you today having walked on the Moon, that I am myself still awed by that miracle. That awe, in me and in each of us… must be the engine of future achievement, not a slow dimming light from a time once bright.” – Buzz Aldrin, Daily News, May 1997
Michael Collins Astronaut Quotes – Apollo 11 Command Module Pilot
As Command Module pilot of NASA’s Apollo 11 mission, Michael Collins remained in orbit around the moon performing experiments while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin went down to first step on the surface.
“I really believe that if the political leaders of the world could see their planet from a distance of, let’s say 100,000 miles, their outlook would be fundamentally changed. The all-important border would be invisible, that noisy argument suddenly silenced.” – Michael Collins
I really believe that if the political leaders of the world could see their planet from a distance of, let's say 100,000 miles, their outlook would be fundamentally changed. The all-important border would be invisible, that noisy argument suddenly silenced. #worldinmywindow pic.twitter.com/NLvTPH21tw
— Michael Collins (@AstroMCollins) May 14, 2019
I was flabbergasted. I thought that when we went someplace they’d said, ‘Well congratulations, you Americans finally did it.’ And instead of that, unanimously, the reaction was, ‘We did it. We humans finally left this planet. We did it.'” – Michael Collins, in a CBS interview with Jeffrey Kluger, co-author of Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13.
Charles “Pete” Conrad Quotes
“I made the remark when we went over the top, ‘Eureka, Houston, the Earth is really round,’ and When I got back to Houston, I got all this mail from members of the Flat Earth Society telling me I didn’t know what I was talking about.” – Pete Conrad
More Pete Conrad quotes coming soon
Alan Bean Quotes
“Since that time, I have not complained about the weather once single time. I’m glad there is weather. I’ve not complained about traffic, I’m glad there’s people around… boy we’re lucky to be here. Why do people complain about the earth? We are living in the Garden of Eden.”– Alan Bean – In the Shadow of the Moon
“Frequently on the lunar surface I said to myself, ‘this is the moon, that is the earth. i’m really here, i’m really here!’”– alan bean
“And as the centuries unfold, we’ll go many many places, but this is the first and this needs to be remembered as one of the wonderful things of the 20th century. It is a great adventure.”– Alan Bean, The Journeys of Apollo 11, The Conquest of the Moon”
Alan Shepard Quotes
“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
“I think about the personal accomplishment, but there’s more of a sense of the grand achievement by all the people who could put this man on the Moon.”
– Alan Shepard, The Denver Post
“The first one I hit pretty flush with one hand – went about 200 yards. And the second one I shanked, and it rolled into a crater about 40 yards away.”– Alan Shepard, describing his golf shots made on the moon in “Boy, What a Ride!’- The Tampa Tribune
“I guess those of us who have been with NASA … kind of understand the tremendous excitement and thrills and celebrations and national pride that went with the Apollo program is just something you’re not going to create again, probably until we go to Mars.”– Alan Shepard, The Hartford Courant
“I can hit it farther on the moon. but actually, my swing is better here on Earth.”– Alan Shepard, The Orlando Sentinel
“No way that any astronaut worth his salt volunteered for the space program to become a hero. You don’t select astronauts who want fame and fortune. You select them because they’re the best test pilots in the world, they know it, and it’s a personal challenge for them. and the astronauts of today are exactly the same.”– Alan Shepard, The Washington Post
Edgar Mitchell Quotes
“So, we’ve gone from covered wagons to going to the moon in just under 100 years. For all the centuries and thousands of years before us, people walked or rode horses, cows, camels or whatever. This so-called modern era, from the late 19th century through now, has been the period of the most amazing development, discovery, innovation and acceleration of change that humans have ever experienced. And it hasn’t slowed down yet.”– Edgar Mitchell
“My view of our planet was a glimpse of divinity.” – Edgar Mitchell
“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 bitch.”― Edgar Mitchell
“Suddenly, from behind the rim of the moon, in long, slow-motion moments of immense majesty, there emerges a sparkling blue and white jewel, a light, delicate, sky-blue sphere laced with slowly swirling veils of white, rising gradually like a small pearl in a thick sea of black mystery. It takes more than a moment to fully realize this is Earth … home.– 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
David Scott Quotes
“It truly is an oasis and we don’t take very good care of it. And I think the elevation of that awareness is a real contribution to, you know, saving the earth if you will.”– Dave Scott – In the Shadow of the Moon
“it was my lucky day to be flying with Mr. Neil Armstrong.”– Dave Scott on surviving out of control roll of Gemini 8 spacecraft
James Irwin Quotes
“The earth reminded us of a Christmas tree ornament hanging in the blackness of space. as we got farther and farther away it diminished in size. Finally it shrank to the size of a marble, the most beautiful marble you can imagine. That beautiful, warm, living object looked so fragile, so delicate, that if you touched it with a finger it would crumble and fall apart. Seeing this has to change a man, has to make a man appreciate the creation of God and the love of God.”– james irwin, The Home Planet By Kevin V. Kelley
More James Irwin quotes coming sooon
John Young Quotes
“But one-sixth gravity on the surface of the Moon is just delightful. It’s not like being in zero gravity, you know. You can drop a pencil in zero gravity and look for it for three days. In one-sixth gravity, you just look down and there it is.”– John Young, Houston Chronicle
“i think it’s really important to get folks educated about these problems … earth’s geologic history is pretty clear: it says, quite frankly, that single-planet species don’t last. right now we’re a single-planet species. we need to fix that.” – john young, houston chronicle
“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 Moon has a lot of resources that we’ll learn how to use in this century and that will be great … the technologies we need to live and work on the moon will save us right here on this planet.”– John Young, Houston Chronicle
Charles Duke Quotes
“We copy you down Eagle”– Charles Duke, Capcom – speaking to Apollo 11 astronauts as they landed on the Moon for the very first time in history.
“Hot dog, he did it. it’s a very pliable rock Houston.”– Charles Duke’s reaction to discovering that a hammer could break apart a small Moon rock – Apollo 15 NASA footage
“we’ve been to the moon 9 times. i mean, why did we fake it 9 times if we faked it?” – charles duke, in the shadow of the moon
“That jewel of Earth was just hung up in the blackness of space. The only people that have seen the whole circle of the Earth are the 24 guys that went to the Moon.”– Charles Duke, In the Shadow of the Moon
“I say my walk on the Moon lasted for three days and it was a great adventure. But my walk with God lasts forever.”– Charles Duke, In the Shadow of the Moon
“His inspiration to the generations that follow is incalculable.”– Charles Duke, the story behind Neil Armstrong, 2015 documentary
Eugene Cernan Quotes
“There is orange soil… i can see it from here, it’s orange.” – Gene Cernan, The Journeys of Apollo 11, The Conquest of the Moon
“The night before I flew, I wrote a letter to Tracy, just in case: To my darling daughter Tracy — trace, you’re almost too young to understand what it means to have your daddy to go to the Moon… I want you to look at the Moon because when you are reading this, daddy is almost there.” – Gene Cernan, Last Man on the Moon
“the valley of history has seen mankind complete its first evolutionary steps into the universe – leaving the planet earth and going forward into the universe.” – gene cernan, nasa footage from apollo 17
“I was out there somewhere with the opportunity to see something and be somewhere and do something that only twelve human beings in the history of mankind have been able to do or be or see. – Gene Cernan, Last Man on the Moon
“There I was, and there you are, the Earth – dynamic, overwhelming and I felt that the world has just, there’s too much purpose, too much logic, it was just too beautiful to happen by accident. There has to be somebody bigger than you and bigger than me. And I mean this in a spiritual sense, not a religious sense. There has to be a creator of the universe who stands above the religions that we ourselves create to govern our lives.”– Gene Cernan, In the Shadow of the Moon
“it was america that was going to the moon, but that fact of life was that it was 20th century humaniyy that was going to the moon, the entire world was on board that spacecraft with us. – gene cernan, last man on the moon
“I often tell young kids, and particularly my grandkids — don’t ever count yourself out. You’ll never know how good you are until you try. Dream the impossible and then go out and make it happen. I walked on the Moon. What can’t you do?” – Gene cernan, Last Man on the Moon
“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.
Harrison Schmitt Quotes
“Working on the Moon is a lot of fun. it’s like walking around on a giant trampoline all the time and you’re just as strong as you were here on Earth but you don’t weight as much. You only weigh one-sixth of what you weigh on the Moon. even with the suit and the backpack, my total weight was only 61 pounds.” – Harrison Schmitt, The Journeys of Apollo 11, the Conquest of the Moon,
“Once it was back in the laboratory, everyone realized it was volcanic material that had been erupted in the valley and somehow protected for 3 ½ billion years without getting mixed up with everything else. And it has become a very, very important sample, increasingly important sample in trying to decipher what the actual origin of the Moon might be. – Harrison Schmitt, on Cernan’s ‘orange soil’ discovery – The Journeys of Apollo 11, The Conquest of the Moon
“we were true scientific explorers. we were looking at things that human beings had never seen before. or if they’d seen them, they weren’t thinking about them in terms of understanding our earth, and our solar system, and indeed the universe.” – harrison schmitt, in the shadow of the moon, min 120
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