Time & Perspective Quote by Wally Schirra

In twelve plain words, Wally Schirra gives you the real mythology of the Space Age: not daredevil glamour, but disciplined rehearsal. “We spent a lot of time in simulators” is almost aggressively unromantic. It drains the romance out of the rocket and pours it into repetition, boredom, and institutional seriousness. That’s the point. Astronauts were sold to the public as cool-headed heroes, yet Schirra’s backstage detail makes the heroism procedural: competence built under fluorescent lights, not in the moment of launch.

The second sentence sharpens the intent. “We were going to do it right” isn’t just a pledge; it’s a moral stance in an era when “right” had national consequences. Schirra flew in Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo, programs defined by experimental hardware, political pressure, and a very public tolerance for risk. The subtext is that courage without preparation is vanity. It also reads as a quiet rebuke to the caricature of astronauts as instinct-driven test pilots. The simulator is where ego gets sanded down into checklists, where you learn to treat surprise as a scenario you’ve already met.

There’s also an organizational message embedded in the “we.” This isn’t lone-wolf bravado; it’s team accountability. In the long shadow of tragedies like Apollo 1, “do it right” becomes more than personal pride. It’s a compact between crew, engineers, and the public: if we’re going to gamble with lives at the edge of the possible, we’ll at least refuse to be casual about it.