The opportunities to become an astronaut in Canada were far and few.

Some people will always be volunteers to explore, and it is, in my mind, a privilege.

Most people here don't have a wide emotional range. It's just the type of people astronauts are, they're required to be level.

You're always under the microscope, you don't know which mission you're going to get. It's a surprise.

I think it's the entire privilege I had to represent my country. It's not the going to space alone; it's to be part of that endeavour and to contribute a very small part to a very important step toward pushing the frontier.

If anything, when you're up in space and you're inside a space ship, which is your home, and without which you would not survive, you know that Earth is your home. This is the only place you can return. In fact we're very meticulous. Part of our job is to maintain the spaceship. If we apply the same kind of model to Earth maybe we'd have a different outlook.

You're always under the microscope, and you don't know which mission you're going to get. It's a surprise.