By Ed White
“I felt red, white and blue all over.”
–On his walk in space, quoted in Life magazine, June 25, 1965
“I think you have to understand the feeling that a pilot has, that a test pilot has, that I look forward a great deal to making the first flight. There’s a great deal of pride involved in making a first flight.”
— The New York Times, January 29, 1967, p. 48
“It felt like the most natural thing in the world to do.”
— On helping his father fly a plane for the first time at age 6, Newsweek, June 14, 1965, p. 32
“The article was written with tongue in cheek, but something told me: this is it – this is the type of thing you’re cut out for. From then on everything I did seemed to be preparing me for space flight.”
— On reading a magazine article about the future role of astronauts, Ibid
“A lot of us here on earth are getting pretty curious about what the moon’s made of, and you’ll never satisfy man’s curiosity unless a man goes himself.”
— Ibid
“I do feel entirely safe in a spacecraft.”
— Newsweek, February 6, 1967, p. 29
“The sun in space is not blinding but it’s quite nice.”
— NASA Mission Commentary Transcript, Tape 11 (EVA), p. 7
“I can hardly get used to people calling me ‘Colonel’. I know in a million years I’ll never get used to people calling me ‘Doctor’.”
— On receiving his Honorary Doctorate, Time, June 25, 1965, p. 33
On Ed White
“He was seen as ‘a man who, when asked an intelligent question, will answer thoughtfully and to the point, but will rarely volunteer information.'”
— Gus Grissom, Life magazine, February 10, 1967, p. 22
“Ed’s a real hard driver. I don’t care what kind of job you give Ed, he’s going to get it done; he’s going to get it finished.”
— Gus Grissom, The New York Times, January 29, 1967, p. 48