The Apollo Murders Quotes
"I loved flying the Phantom. Pushing forward on the throttles created an instantaneous powerful thrust into my back, and pulling back steadily on the control stick arced the jet’s nose up into the eternal blue."
"The explosion was stupendous. The gull hit just ahead and left of me, shattering the acrylic plastic canopy like a grenade."
"The fire chief’s ladder rattled against the side of the Phantom. And then I heard his voice next to me. 'Holy Christ,' he said."
"The accident hadn’t only cost Kaz an eye. Without binocular vision, he’d lost his medical as both a test pilot and an astronaut selectee."
"I needed to cross in front of the measuring cameras at exactly 50 feet above the water."
"As the adrenaline left my body, excruciating pain took over, a searing fire centered in my left eye socket."
"The rest of me was numb, nauseous, soaking wet, totally limp."
"Espionage, like chess, is a game of patience and focus."
"But the truth is, I’d like to stay here if we can swing it. The kids are liking school, and Margaret likes Houston way better than the desert at Edwards."
"I want to be an astronaut. And this place is astronaut mecca."
"He’d been flying for only 11 minutes, and the helicopter’s two bulbous gas tanks were near full."
"Death was new to no one in the room, and they all preferred to hear that it happened fast."
"I’ll miss each of those guys for my whole life."
"Time to move operations from Texas to Florida, and the astronauts were flying themselves there."
"Looks like a dragonfly that fell into a campfire."
"No one ever wanted to stick around and watch him work."
"As much as he disliked widening the circle, he called his ex-Navy contacts at the National Transportation Safety Board."
"Extra lights had been erected on portable stands, and they starkly highlighted the angular debris, casting harsh shadows."
"A spaceship is, in essence, a bubble of Earth’s air in the empty vacuum of space."
"He sure as hell wasn’t going to tell anyone here."
"I’ve never been motion sick in my life, and I’m not going to start today."
"Al Shepard bemusedly watched Luke pour himself another cup. 'Go easy on that, Marine.'"
"The Saturn V stood 363 feet, as tall as a 34-story building."
"This is Apollo Saturn Launch Control. We’ve passed the eleven-minute mark, all still GO at this time."
"We’re at max design pitch rate for the solar panels now."
"About thirty seconds, Comrade Director, forty-five maximum until we’re out of antenna range."
"At fifteen seconds, send the signal. All rounds! Fire the R-23!"
"No time for cabin repress now, guys," Michael warned.
"I need to pull the Lunar Module out of the S-IVB."
"Good riddance to Almaz! Can you see it in the rear-view mirror?"
"We need to maintain the complete news blackout until we decide our path."
"We need to control the information carefully, and get Russian buy-in ASAP."
"Let’s do it. Let’s land Apollo 18, with a cosmonaut aboard, on the Moon."
"We’ve got the tragedy to deal with, as well as the complexity of handling a new, non-English-speaking foreign crewmember."
"We’re on our way, and I’m flying the ship alone. But man, is this fucked up."
"It gave me an external heartbeat. And so bright—like seeing another sun!"
"Well, you had important astronaut stuff to do. I was just a lunar geologist there for the fun of it."
"Sounds like less science is going to get done."
"We need to come up with a new timeline tomorrow."
"The Kremlin means 'fortress,' and its 15-foot-thick, red brick walls implacably reinforced the name."
"The night admin team at Lubyanka had taken the phone call asking what the KGB had on a cosmonaut."
"We need communications with the cosmonaut—private communication. Can we get it?"
"The cosmonaut and I are heading back into Pursuit."
"Even after death we have to deal with Luke’s farting."
"That is wonderful, Tovarisch Director! I will do my best to make everyone proud."
"We can’t afford to be that far off! CAPCOM, give them a heads-up they’ll need to steer that out manually."
"The world needs symbols of how we can work together, and you and NASA are leading the way."
"Your sacrifices, skills and accomplishments are already legendary, and will be a permanent source of pride for all of history."
"I am honored by the privilege of speaking with you, sir."
"I think it’s one of those holes the geologists were talking about."
"Copy, Chad, sounds good. On the way back we’d like you to check out that darker spot you saw."
"It’s not really TV. It’s just still images, and it takes a while to send all the little ones and zeroes across."
"Major Miller, this is President Nixon, your Commander in Chief. I can’t tell you how proud I am."
"Major Svetlana Yevgenyevna Gromova, this is Ambassador Dobrynin."
"I’m about to step onto the fucking Moon!"
"All hands bury the dead." The traditional call for ships to stop engines, and to lower flags to half-mast.
"I am the resurrection and the life, saith the Lord: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live."
"Houston, Luke’s in position, and we’re ready."
"How crazy is he? She shook her head at him again. Bad enough that he falls into the pit, but to drag me too?"
"Doing okay, Houston, just tripped and fell. Luke is on his way."
"O God, by whose mercy the faithful departed find rest, send your holy Angel to watch over this distant grave."
"Houston, we lowered Luke’s body carefully over the edge and into the deep. I’ve folded his flag and am stowing it now."
"Looks good, 18, nice and square to watch your liftoff. Suggest one last look-around for any loose items, and then we think you’re done on the surface."
"This’ll be the last Moon mission, and the end of my time at NASA. A chance to go make some real money after thirty-two years with the government."
"The ultimate high-stakes billiards shot: miss wide and they’d carom off into space with not enough oxygen to last until they could make it back."
"His life, from childhood until this exact moment, was like a movie script where he’d been the inevitable action hero."
"You could feel that his eyelids were open, but his eye could see absolutely nothing."
"They’re six hundred miles out now, sir, with the second g-spike to go, expecting drogue chute opening in just under six minutes."
"The slap was sudden and totally unexpected, making the impact feel worse."
"Chad watched his entry monitoring panel, the large black arrow showing roll angle."
"Just as they passed overhead, one of the wingmen pulled hard up and away to honor Luke and Chad, leaving a hole in the formation for the missing man."
"The capsule plunged deeply, the salt water curling up around her in an enveloping wave."