Those folks out in the space suits are going to be getting beat up.

So, I decided that whatever I was, wanted to do with my life, it would have to do, it would have to have something to do with the exploration and doing new things.

You know, Scooter's going to do the first separation burn; I'm going to do the second separation burn.

I consider myself to be very fortunate in my career, my timing has worked out.

I could do exploration in this particular career field, and it was a goal that, even if I didn't reach it, it was so high it seemed almost impossible, but even if I didn't reach it, I would still have a good time and a very satisfying career.

Well, for me it really wasn't a case of deciding to be an astronaut.

And then, when I thought about joining the Air Force, flying seemed like a natural extension of the motorcycling experience. You're going faster, higher. You're operating a machine that's a lot more powerful than you are.