John M. Grunsfeld

“A deep ocean under the icy crust of Ganymede opens up further exciting possibilities for life beyond Earth.”

“I have had the privilege to be a member of many high-performance teams at NASA, both on and off the planet.”

“When I grew up on the south side of Chicago, it was kind of a rough neighborhood, and when my parents saw the prospect of my older sister going to middle school, high school, they decided that we would move to the north side of Chicago, Highland Park, and for me, that was a whole new ballgame.”

“It's pretty amazing to me that we have had a space shuttle program that's lasted for 30 years - for one space shuttle. That's quite an achievement.”

“There's no question that if we stay on planet Earth and never leave, that eventually we'll be wiped out.”

“As soon as I could ride a bike... I was always riding over to the Museum of Science and Industry to explore. It's where I first began to develop a fascination with machines and scientific principles.”

“I believe that the future of humans, and the future of Earth, depends on space exploration. That's not a French problem, or a problem for Alabama: it's a planet-wide problem. International cooperation is crucial.”

“Hubble uniquely has been able to look in the atmosphere of a planet orbiting a nearby star and figure out what's in that atmosphere.”

“I got lucky and got assigned to Hubble.”

“The '60s were a remarkable time because several things were happening at once. Men were leaving planet Earth, kids were breaking into the television age, and I was able to see Neil Armstrong walking on the moon.”

“What we do at NASA is inspiring. It's reaching, it's visionary, and it inspires people on Earth to try hard things.”

“The team at the Space Telescope Science Institute has a demonstrated record of meeting the high-performance challenges of operating the Hubble Space Telescope and preparing for the James Webb Space Telescope.”

“The only reason Hubble works is because we have a space shuttle.”

“Here on Earth, we're exposed to asteroids hitting the Earth, eventual changes in the Sun, changes in the Earth's climate, things we're doing to the Earth's climate. If we want to survive, we need to become a multi-planet species. That's further down the road, but the first wave is going to be the explorers.”

“Sciences are being unified by the search for life in the universe.”

“The surface of Mars is bathed in ultraviolet light, bathed in radiation. Mars's magnetic field is essentially gone, so the surface of Mars is essentially sterilized.”

“At the age of six, I declared that I wanted to be an astronaut. My mother thought that was just fine, as it would encourage me to learn science, and besides, there really was no chance I would ever actually become an astronaut.”

“After my spacewalks, I am quite exhilarated but also tired, similar to a workout on Planet Earth.”

“Because of Hubble and other telescopes, we've now discovered that there are probably planets around every star, or virtually every star. There are solar systems around most stars. And the fact that we're here on a planet, Earth, means that it's likely there's lots of other Earths out there.”

“I can't imagine anywhere I'd rather be than outside the space shuttle in my space suit next to the Hubble Space Telescope.”