When I'm asked about the relevance to Black people of what I do, I take that as an affront. It presupposes that Black people have never been involved in exploring the heavens, but this is not so. Ancient African empires - Mali, Songhai, Egypt - had scientists, astronomers. The fact is that space and its resources belong to all of us, not to any one group.

I wanted to be a professional dancer for a period of time, and I did a lot of dancing and choreography and got paid for it.

What we find is that if you have a goal that is very, very far out, and you approach it in little steps, you start to get there faster. Your mind opens up to the possibilities.

Never be limited by other people's limited imaginations.

Once I got into space, I was feeling very comfortable in the universe. I felt like I had a right to be anywhere in this universe, that I belonged here as much as any speck of stardust, any comet, any planet.

When God made the color purple, God was just showing off.

My parents were comfortable with me exploring areas that they were not proficient in. Some parents just aren't comfortable with that.