Gene Kranz

If you didn't like somebody, you just let 'em know it, and hopefully that would square 'em away. Not only would they critique me, get on my case, but basically it was that kind of relationship. It was always a learning, team-building relationship.

Unfortunately as the result of the shutdown of the shuttle program, we lost an entire generation of people experience and capable of making risk judgment.

Spaceflight will never tolerate carelessness, incapacity, and neglect.

I did everything by the numbers. I had checklists upon checklists. If I wasn't ahead of everybody on my team, I didn't feel I was doing my job.

No way can you ever, ever, ever evidence confusion, concern, lack of understanding. You have to be in charge. You are the guy. You have to be cooler than cool, smarter than smart.

I just felt that space was the next thing coming in aviation. It was higher, faster. It had the risk.