When I was eight years old to be a spaceman was the most exciting thing I could imagine.

Going to space was a moment that people think was my Mount Everest, but it's not. I have so many Mount Everests. This just happens to be one of them. It has changed the way I approach things. I realize it's not about me; it's about what I did and about the person we had as a Canadian woman in space. I look at pictures of myself and say, 'That's the woman who did it'.

To fly in space is to see the reality of Earth, alone. The experience changed my life and my attitude toward life itself. I am one of the lucky ones.

Canada needs individuals to whom educators can point, and of whom we can be proud, whether athletes or astronauts or anything else. I think the role each of Canadian plays is not so much "Look at me," but rather, "Look at our country".

When I was eight years old to be a spaceman was the most exciting thing I could imagine.

I think there's responsibility both at the federal and provincial levels for education in a grander sense - and that is to provide recognition financially to people who are educators, to help provide access to on-the-spot learning, so kids are not biased against science. Especially when people are younger, their curiosity needs never to be beaten down. And you can only do that if you have people who love the subject they're teaching, and who provide the student with the ability to do it in the field.