- Shorty Powers: We do not have one John Glenn in that group, and it's not even close.
- Gene Kranz: I don't know. A couple of them look like they're starting to lose their hair.
- Shorty Powers: Who in this group is the all-American girl? The one people are gonna love and take into their hearts and feel good about doing it?
- Deke Slayton: John Glenn wasn't John Glenn until he became John Glenn.
- Shorty Powers: John Glenn was always John Glenn. And that's why he was chosen for Mercury.
- Gordo Stevens: You're gonna be an astronaut candidate.
- Tracy Stevens: No. I'm gonna be an astronaut. One day I'm gonna have one of those pins on my collar just like you.
- Gordo Stevens: Someone's got a fire up her ass. I like it. A lot.
- Deke Slayton: Anybody tell the president that we don't have any female astronauts?
- Thomas Paine: Well, I think he's aware. Every newspaper, magazine, talk show and newscast is pointing it out on a daily basis.
- Molly Cobb: Fifty bucks says this whole thing doesn't make it past month two.
- Patty Doyle: I don't know. I think we're going all the way this time, Molly.
- Molly Cobb: Last time you said that, we ended up spending the night in a Tulsa drunk tank.
- Shorty Powers: The press called them the Mercury 13. Each was an experienced pilot with hundreds or thousands of hours of flight time. Each passed the entire battery of physical and psychological tests given the original Mercury 7 male astronauts. Program was killed before they could attend flight training in Pensacola.
- Deke Slayton: I remember. John Glenn really hated that whole thing.
- Thomas Paine: Well, Glenn's not flying anymore. And he's a Democrat, so his opinion doesn't matter.