I think it's important for little girls growing up, and young women, to have one in every walk of life. So from that point of view, I'm proud to be a role model!

Science is fun. Science is curiosity. We all have natural curiosity. Science is a process of investigating. It's posing questions and coming up with a method. It's delving in.

I liked math - that was my favorite subject - and I was very interested in astronomy and in physical science.

Some astronauts sleep in sort of beds - compartments that you can open up and crawl into and then close up, almost like a little bedroom.

I think maybe it's too bad that our society isn't further along and this is such a big deal. I think it's time...that people realize that women in this country can do any job they want to do.

Rocket science is tough, and rockets have a way of failing.

It's easy to sleep floating around - it's very comfortable. But you have to be careful that you don't float into somebody or something!