We were on the dark side of the Earth when we started to see outside the window this soft pink glow, which is a lot of little angry ions out there going very fast. We were hitting them very fast.
Robert CrippenIf you want to go into space first time on a new vehicle that's never been flown, you want to go with a pro.
Robert CrippenYou're going very fast when you're on orbit, going around the world once every hour and a half.
Robert CrippenHaving the opportunity to fly the first flight of something like a space shuttle was the ultimate test flight.
Robert CrippenLiving inside the shuttle was a little like camping out. We ended up sleeping in our seats. You had to pay attention to housekeeping, not get things too dirty.
Robert CrippenThe powered flight took a total of about eight and a half minutes. It seemed to me it had gone by in a lash. We had gone from sitting still on the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center to traveling at 17,500 miles an hour in that eight and a half minutes. It is still mind-boggling to me. I recall making some statement on the air-to-ground radio for the benefit of my fellow astronauts, who had also been in the program a long time, that it was well worth the wait.
Robert Crippen