“Step out into the space with no path to tread and find the unimaginable.”

“Space doesn't just encompass the sublime and the ridiculous. It erases the line between.”

“The suffix 'naut' comes from the Greek and Latin words for ships and sailing. Astronaut suggests 'a sailor in space.' Chimponaut suggests 'a chimpanzee in sailor pants'.”

“Bound in a hollow of space and time, only those truly in need, without harm in their hearts, could find their way to its sanctuary.”

“NASA might do well to adopt the Red Bull approach to branding and astronautics. Suddenly the man in the spacesuit is not an underpaid civil servant; he's the ultimate extreme athlete. Red Bull knows how to make space hip.”

“As when astronaut Mike Mulhane was asked by a NASA psychiatrist what epitaph he'd like to have on his gravestone, Mulhane answered, "A loving husband and devoted father," though in reality, he jokes in "Riding Rockets," "I would have sold my wife and children into slavery for a ride into space.”

“Many people will find this book disrespectful. There is nothing amusing about being dead, they will say. Ah, but there is.”