Having the opportunity to fly the first flight of something like a space shuttle was the ultimate test flight. — Robert Crippen
I was selected to be an astronaut on a military program called the manned orbiting laboratory back in ’67. — Robert Crippen
If 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 Crippen
Living inside the shuttle was a little like camping out. We ended up sleeping in our seats. — Robert Crippen
Looking down at the earth, you started to pick up a sense of speed much more than I had noticed on orbit. — Robert Crippen
The space shuttle has been a fantastic vehicle. It is unlike any other thing that we’ve ever built. — Robert Crippen
The real pleasure was having the chance to enjoy being weightless, and the other was to spend some. — Robert Crippen
We were flying on a winged vehicle that would do reentry different than we had ever done before. — Robert Crippen
We were on the dark side of the earth when we started to see outside the window this soft pink glow — Robert Crippen
We were only on orbit a little over two days, so we had no adverse effects from being weightless. — Robert Crippen
You’re going very fast when you’re on orbit, going around the world once every hour and a half. — Robert Crippen
When you work really hard for something for a long time it’s almost impossible to believe that it’s coming true. — Robert Crippen