Rusty Schweickart

“When you go around the Earth in an hour and a half, you begin to recognize that your identity is with that whole thing. That makes a change... it comes through to you so powerfully that you're the sensing element for Man.”

“We're not passengers on spaceship earth, we're the crew.”

“You identify with Houston and then you identify with Los Angeles... And when you go around the Earth in an hour and a half you begin to recognize that your identity is with the whole thing.”

“The clock is ticking on the asteroid threat.”

“On that flight, I was the first person to test the backpack that you see astronauts use when they go outside the spacecraft. I was the first human satellite.”

“It is not if, but when, we will be hit by a civilization-ending asteroid.”

“You look down and you see the whole of humanity in a single glance. And you realize that everything that is important to you... is on that little blue marble.”

“It's a perspective that I think is essential for us to have if we're going to survive as a species.”

“You're out there on the end of a tether, and you're looking at this incredible sight of this little blue and white thing, moving through the blackness of space. It's the most beautiful thing you've ever seen.”

“That beautiful, warm, living object looked so fragile, so delicate, that if you touched it with a finger it would crumble and fall apart.”