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.

The president felt that it was important to send an ordinary citizen to experience the excitement of space travel as a representative for all Americans.

I have the LIFE magazine of the men walking on the moon.

Every shuttle mission's been successful.

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.

It's not the Olympics. It's Concord, New Hampshire, and a homecoming should reflect the community I'm part of.

Sometimes when things get kind of frantic, it helps to call my husband Steve, because I think he's got a real good sense of where everything's gonna be in a few years.