My job in space will be to observe and write a journal. I am also going to be teaching a class for students on earth about life in space and on the space shuttle and conducting experiments.

I told them how excited I would be to go into space and how thrilled I was when Alan Shepard made his historic flight, and when John Kennedy announced on the news that the men had landed safely on the moon, and how jealous I was of those men.

If I can get some student interested in science, if I can show members of the general public what's going on up there in the space program, then my job's been done.

I will have a one-hour program called the Mission Watch, where I will describe details of the mission and give additional information about the lessons from space.

Every shuttle mission's been successful.

I can remember in early elementary school when the Russians launched the first satellite. There was still so much unknown about space. People thought Mars was probably populated.

If anything, the overriding emotion is gonna just be excitement.