Leroy Chiao Quotes

Quotes about:

• I'm Chinese-American, of course, and so it's very interesting to see China actually launch their own astronauts, becoming the third nation, following the United States and Russia, to do so.

  Leroy Chiao

  Russia, Interesting, Chinese

  8 Copy quote

• One of my challenges was to try to photograph the Great Wall of China. And I did actually take some photos, but it was hard to discern the wall with the naked eye.

  Leroy Chiao

  Photography, Wall, Eye

  19 Copy quote

• I think it's good to have competition. Now we have a third country that can launch astronauts, so it's good for all of us. It makes us a little bit more competitive and wanting to be the leader.

  Leroy Chiao

  Country, Thinking, Leader

  8 Copy quote

• I remember getting advice like, "Oh, do what interests you. Don't worry about tomorrow, live for today," kind of thing. And to a degree, you've got to do that, you've got to follow your passions. You've got to follow your dreams, but you also have to have a plan. You can't just say I'm going to do what interests me today and I'm not going to worry about tomorrow, that doesn't work. And anyone who's tried that I think quickly finds that out. Think about what turns you on, what do you dream about? But along with that, make a plan and work hard to make it happen.

  Leroy Chiao

  Dream, Hard Work, Passion

  Source: bigthink.com

  4 Copy quote

• There is no one area of chemical engineering that specifically helped me in my career as an astronaut, it was more the general education in engineering. Also, it was a very difficult and rigorous course. So, it made me strong and resourceful.

  Leroy Chiao

  Strong, Engineering, Careers

  53 Copy quote

• Space is very unforgiving business

  Leroy Chiao

  Space, Unforgiving

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• As commander I was responsible for the overall success of the mission, and so I had to know at least a little bit about everything.

  Leroy Chiao

  Congratulations, Littles, Responsible

  6 Copy quote

• Qian Xuesen, the father of the Chinese Space Program, studied in the United States, and he was a protégé of Theodore Von Carmen's at Cal Tech and helped start the jet propulsion laboratory there, and then he got caught up in the anti-communism wave and was accused of being a spy and was actually deported back to China where he built from nothing, their entire missile and space program. So, in a way, in a very real way, the United States in trying to protect so-called protect our secrets and throwing this guy out of the country, we helped seed and start the Chinese missile program.

  Leroy Chiao

  Country, Real, Father

  Source: bigthink.com

  4 Copy quote

• I loved flying as much as I thought I would and continue to fly aircraft.

  Leroy Chiao

  Flying, Aircraft

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• Tinkering is something we need to know how to do in order to keep something like the space station running. I am a tinkerer by nature.

  Leroy Chiao

  Running, Order, Space

  "NASAWatch.com Interview with NASA Astronauts Fincke and Chiao aboard the International Space Station". Interview with Keith Cowing, www.spaceref.com. October 19, 2004.

  4 Copy quote

• I had done everything I could do as an astronaut, and we have a long line of inexperienced astronauts waiting for their first missions, and so my role really should be to step aside and help them prepare for their missions, rather than to try to get another mission.

  Leroy Chiao

  Long, Waiting, Trying

  8 Copy quote

• We were doing something called telemedicine, where we were using the ultrasound. One interesting application of this ultrasound is the possibility that you could possibly use it to measure critical bone areas during a long space mission and track if you're losing bone in these areas. On Earth, when they check you for bone loss, you get in this big machine. It's the size of a room and it's got a platform with an x-ray that scans your whole body and in critical areas and it takes a while and it just wouldn't be practical to have a machine like that in space.

  Leroy Chiao

  Loss, Track, Interesting

  Source: bigthink.com

  4 Copy quote

• I would say keep supporting space flight, keep telling the public and the politicians why it's important to advance science and explore the galaxy. I encourage the Japanese to keep doing what they're doing.

  Leroy Chiao

  Space Flight, Important, Politician

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• My running ambition is to keep doing it until I'm way past the point where I have any business running. Just to keep doing it throughout my whole life—to stay fit and feel good.

  Leroy Chiao

  Running, Ambition, Past

  4 Copy quote

• One day, people will be able to buy tickets to visit space.

  Leroy Chiao

  Space, People, One Day

  9 Copy quote

• I was born in the United States, I'm proud to be an American, I'm an American first. But obviously, I'm a Chinese-American. And growing up, my family, my parents, and I think rightly so didn't put us in Chinatown, didn't put us with our other ethnic group, but put us in mainstream America. They're thinking was that will help us assimilate into the mainstream and be a part of it. And it did. It certainly gave me tolerance of other people, of other races, of other ethnicities and I think that's helped make me a better person.

  Leroy Chiao

  Growing Up, Thinking, People

  Source: bigthink.com

  4 Copy quote

• I hope that China will continue with space exploration. It would be logical to have international co-operation. I hope that it will come about and that I can be involved in it.

  Leroy Chiao

  Space, Would Be, Exploration

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• Of course, you'll have to meet the physical and psychological demands. A space walk takes a lot of energy.

  Leroy Chiao

  Space, Energy, Demand

  4 Copy quote

• Coming down under a parachute is quite different as well. You hit the ground pretty hard, but all the systems work very well to keep it from hurting, so it doesn't even hurt when you hit. It was a great experience to be able to do both.

  Leroy Chiao

  Hurt, Different, Able

  7 Copy quote

• Getting into a space suit and going outside, to me, getting your peripheral vision involved and looking at the Earth was a whole different experience than looking through the window. And it's kind of the same on earth. If you're driving in a car and you see like a beautiful sunset or landscape, it looks so much better if you stop and get out and kind of take it all in and that's kind of what it's like doing a spacewalk.

  Leroy Chiao

  Beautiful, Sunset, Car

  Source: bigthink.com

  4 Copy quote

• My advice for an aspiring astronaut is to really follow your passion. I mean, study something that interests you, but also qualifies you to apply. NASA recruits from a wide variety of backgrounds. I know people who have applied to be an astronaut who ask me, well should I do this or should I do that. And I said, you know, it doesn't matter. The basic requirements are you have to be in good health, and you have to have a good heart, I mean in a technical way, not to be a kind person, well that helps. Study something that you like and do well in it.

  Leroy Chiao

  Heart, Mean, Passion

  Source: bigthink.com

  4 Copy quote

• The Russians have been flying long duration crews since the early '70's. And in the early days, they've ended at least two missions early because of conflicts within the crew. So, they learned early on the importance of studying this and making sure you put the right crew together. Since we began our work together on the International Space station with the Russians in the early 2000's, NASA has started to learn the importance of this kind of work. And so, I think it's important work and we are not fully onboard and recognize it as important.

  Leroy Chiao

  Thinking, Long, Flying

  Source: bigthink.com

  4 Copy quote

• The neatest thing about research and science is we don't necessarily know what's going to come down the pike. We think we know what we're working on. Oftentimes, discoveries are made when you're trying to discover something else. You end up accidentally discovering a different thing. So, one of those things might happen that enable us to have more efficient rockets.

  Leroy Chiao

  Thinking, Trying, Different

  Source: bigthink.com

  4 Copy quote

• What keeps me up at night? Probably most, thinking about the future for my kids. It sounds kind of funny, but not so much what they're going to do, but how as a parent, how my wife and I as parents, how best we should prepare them for the world. And I know everybody does this, I think everybody stays up at night thinking about the best thing for their kids, and astronauts are no different.

  Leroy Chiao

  Kids, Night, Thinking

  Source: bigthink.com

  4 Copy quote

• The most important thing about an astronaut is you have to take for a given a person's done pretty well in school, has the intelligence and all of that to learn new systems and new things. But after that, the most important thing I think is being able to get along with others. Flexibility and teamwork, those issues because as we fly longer and longer in space, those are really important factors, even on short shuttle missions, those are important factors, to put a crew together that can work together effectively as a team, that can get along.

  Leroy Chiao

  Teamwork, School, Thinking

  Source: bigthink.com

  4 Copy quote

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