Man belongs wherever he wants to go - and he'll do plenty well when he gets there.

Looking back, nothing seems so simple than a utopian vision realised.

There is beauty in space, and it is orderly. There is no weather, and there is regularity. It is predictable. Just look at our little Explorer; you can set your clock by it-literally; it is more accurate than your clock. Everything in space obeys the laws of physics. If you know these laws, and obey them, space will treat you kindly.

What we will have attained when Neil Armstrong steps down upon the moon is a completely new step in the evolution of man.

A good engineer gets stale very fast if he doesn't keep his hands dirty.

Our sun is one of a 100 billion stars in our galaxy. Our galaxy is one of billions of galaxies populating the universe. It would be the height of presumption to think that we are the only living thing in that enormous immensity.

For my confirmation, I didn't get a watch and my first pair of long pants, like most Lutheran boys. I got a telescope. My mother thought it would make the best gift.