On both of my flights, everything went very well.

When you can feel that close to something you're used to seeing from this great distance, well, it changes a person.

The most important steps that I followed were studying math and science in school. I was always interested in physics and astronomy and chemistry and I continued to study those subjects through high school and college on into graduate school. That's what prepared me for being an astronaut; it actually gave me the qualifications to be selected to be an astronaut.

I had both male and female heroes.

Because I was a tennis player, Billie Jean King was a hero of mine.

I don't have any nicknames.

So most astronauts getting ready to lift off are excited and very anxious and worried about that explosion - because if something goes wrong in the first seconds of launch, there's not very much you can do.