Alan Shepard

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

#contract #determined #factor #feeling #government

I didn't mind studying. Obviously math and the physical science subjects interested me more than some of the more artistic subjects, but I think I was a pretty good student. ↗

— Alan Shepard

#good #good student #i #i think #interested

It's been a long way, but we're here. ↗

— Alan Shepard

#here #long #long way #way

But when I was selected, after my very first tour of squadron duty, to become one of the youngest candidates for the test pilot school, I began to realize, maybe you are a little bit better. ↗

— Alan Shepard

#become #began #better #bit #candidates

I must admit, maybe I am a piece of history after all. ↗

— Alan Shepard

#after #am #history #i #i am

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

#certainly #chance #i #i think #maybe

I think the sense of family and family achievement, plus the discipline which I received there from that one-room school were really very helpful in what I did later on. ↗

— Alan Shepard

#did #discipline #family #helpful #i

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

#finish #five #get #glad #grades

Later, in the early teens, I used to ride my bike every Saturday morning to the nearest airport, ten miles away, push airplanes in and out of the hangars, and clean up the hangars. ↗

— Alan Shepard

#away #bike #clean #clean up #early

Obviously I was challenged by becoming a Naval aviator, by landing aboard aircraft carriers and so on. ↗

— Alan Shepard

#aircraft #aviator #becoming #carriers #challenged