But when I wasn't working, I was usually at a window looking down at Earth.

The experience of being in space didn't change my perspective of myself or of the planet or of life. I had no spiritual experience.

The stars don't look bigger, but they do look brighter.

Eventually private enterprise will be able to send people into orbit, but I suspect initially it's going to have to be with NASA's help. Whether it's going to be a consortium or one entity remains to be seen. I could be wrong. I could be one of the old fogies! Rocket science is tough, and rockets have a way of failing. It happens. A company has to be willing to bear the risk of its rocket failing. It's a very large capital investment.

That's something that is almost part of being human and I'm certain that will continue.

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

After the Challenger accident, NASA put in a lot of time to improve the safety of the space shuttle to fix the things that had gone wrong.