And, I think, as a kid, I had a strong motivation to do something of my life. And, I think that's the strongest motivation I really got. And, that came obviously from my parents and my grandparents

Polytechnique is a school whose multi disciplinary, very high scientific level curriculum is invaluable.

I've been as a pilot involved in the Gulf War. And then, in the No-Fly Zone

So, it takes a lot of chance and luck. I mean I was lucky enough to get in the program where people with the same skills never made it to the program. So keep trying.

The last thing, and the only one that you cannot physically train for, is the psychological preparation

So, for me, I make no difference whether I'm training with my shuttle crew or the Expedition crew. Of course, I think I want to take more care of the Expedition crew, because they're going to stay there for a long time.

I think that witnessing ecological problems visible from space is one of the new and essential roles of astronauts