At 42,000' in approximately level flight, a third cylinder was turned on. Acceleration was rapid and speed increased to .98 Mach. The needle of the machmeter fluctuated at this reading momentarily, then passed off the scale. Assuming that the off-scale reading remained linear, it is estimated that 1.05 Mach was attained at this time.

You do what you can for as long as you can, and when you finally can't, you do the next best thing. You back up but you don't give up.

Unfortunately, many people do not consider fun an important item on their daily agenda. For me, that was always a high priority in whatever I was doing.

Just before you break through the sound barrier, the cockpit shakes the most.

Rules are made for people who aren't willing to make up their own.

I ran the astronaut school for six years, and I was the commandant and when I finished in '65, 26 of my guys went into space as NASA astronauts that I trained.

You don't concentrate on risks. You concentrate on results. No risk is too great to prevent the necessary job from getting done.