Apollo 13 quotes

View Quote Gene Kranz: EECOM, is this an instrumentation problem, or are we looking at real power loss here?
Sy Liebergot: It's, it's reading a quadruple failure - that can't happen! It's, it's got to be instrumentation.

View Quote William 'Bill' Pogue: When I go up there on 19, I'm gonna take my entire collection of Johnny Cash along!

View Quote Ken Mattingly: 13, this is Houston, do you read?
Jim Lovell: Roger that, Ken. Are the flowers blooming in Houston?
Ken Mattingly: That's a negative, Jim. I do not have the measles.
[glares pointedly at the flight surgeon]

View Quote Controller #1: Is it A.M. or P.M.?
Controller #2: A.M. Very, very A.M.

View Quote CAPCOM: Jack, you'll be glad to hear that we've contacted President Nixon, and he's going to grant you an extension on your income taxes, since you are most decidedly out of the country.
Jack Swigert: [tearful and sleep-deprived] Roger that, Houston. That's wonderful news.

View Quote Launch Control, This is Houston, We are go for Launch

View Quote Jim Lovell: I've trained for the Fra Mauro highlands... and this is FLIGHT SURGEON HORSESHIT, Deke!
Deke Slayton: Jim, if you hold out for Ken, you will not be on Apollo 13. It's your decision.

View Quote Television Reporter: Is there a specific instance in an airplane emergency when you can recall fear?
Jim Lovell: Uh well, I'll tell ya, I remember this one time - I'm in a Banshee at night in combat conditions, so there's no running lights on the carrier. It was the Shrangri-La, and we were in the Sea of Japan and my radar had jammed, and my homing signal was gone... because somebody in Japan was actually using the same frequency. And so it was - it was leading me away from where I was supposed to be. And I'm lookin' down at a big, black ocean, so I flip on my map light, and then suddenly: zap. Everything shorts out right there in my ****pit. All my instruments are gone. My lights are gone. And I can't even tell now what my altitude is. I know I'm running out of fuel, so I'm thinking about ditching in the ocean. And I, I look down there, and then in the darkness there's this uh, there's this green trail. It's like a long carpet that's just laid out right beneath me. And it was the algae, right? It was that phosphorescent stuff that gets churned up in the wake of a big ship. And it was - it was - it was leading me home. You know? If my ****pit lights hadn't shorted out, there's no way I'd ever been able to see that. So uh, you, uh, never know... what... what events are to transpire to get you home.

View Quote Goddammit! I don't want another ESTIMATE! I want procedures! NOW!

View Quote Politician: Jim, people in my state are asking why we're continuing to fund this program now that we've beaten the Russians to the moon.
Jim Lovell: Imagine if Christopher Columbus came back from the New World, and no one returned in his footsteps.

View Quote [explaining why he put a "NO" sign on the instrument panel] I was getting a little punchy and I didn't want to cut the LEM loose with you guys still in it.

View Quote We've never lost an American in space, we're sure as hell not gonna lose one on my watch! Failure is not an option.

View Quote Don't give me that NASA bullshit! I want to know what's happening with my husband!

View Quote [looking at the fogged-up instrument panels] It's like tryin' to drive a toaster through a car wash.

View Quote [Ken Mattingly is in the simulator trying to figure out Apollo 13's reentry procedure] Technician: Need a break, Ken?
Ken Mattingly: If they don't get one, I don't get one.