Its a very sobering feeling to be up in space and realize that ones safety factor was determined by the lowest bidder on a government contract. – Alan Shepard
Id 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
Of course, in our grade school, in those days, there were no organized sports at all. We just went out and ran around the school yard for recess. – Alan Shepard
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