It's different, but it's very pretty out here. I suppose they are going to make a big deal of all this.

Shoot for the stars but if you happen to miss shoot for the moon instead.

Yeah, I wasn't chosen to be first. I was just chosen to command that flight. Circumstance put me in that particular role. That wasn't planned by anyone.

I hope you become comfortable with the use of logic without being deceived into concluding that logic will inevitably lead you to the correct conclusion.

I can honestly say - and it's a big surprise to me - that I have never had a dream about being on the moon.

The exciting part for me, as a pilot, was the landing on the moon. That was the time that we had achieved the national goal of putting Americans on the moon. The landing approach was, by far, the most difficult and challenging part of the flight. Walking on the lunar surface was very interesting, but it was something we looked on as reasonably safe and predictable. So the feeling of elation accompanied the landing rather than the walking.

I think if there was anything I learned from our skipper was that it's not how you look; it's how you perform.