There are lots of opportunities out there for women to work in these fields, ... Girls just need support, encouragement and mentoring to follow through with the sciences.

When the space shuttle's engines cut off, and you're finally in space, in orbit, weightless... I remember unstrapping from my seat, floating over to the window, and that's when I got my first view of Earth. Just a spectacular view, and a chance to see our planet as a planet.

My background is in physics, so I was the mission specialist, who is sort of like the flight engineer on an airplane.

If we want scientists and engineers in the future, we should be cultivating the girls as much as the boys.

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.

One thing I probably share with everyone else in the astronaut office is composure.

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.