The view of earth is absolutely spectacular, and the feeling of looking back and seeing your planet as a planet is just an amazing feeling. It's a totally different perspective, and it makes you appreciate, actually, how fragile our existence is.

The rockets light! The shuttle leaps off the launch pad in a cloud of steam and a trail of fire.

Even though NASA tries to simulate launch, and we practice in simulators, it's not the same - it's not even close to the same.

I never went into physics or the astronaut corps to become a role model. But after my first flight, it became clear to me that I was one. And I began to understand the importance of that to people. Young girls need to see role models in whatever careers they may choose, just so they can picture themselves doing those jobs someday. You can't be what you can't see.

So most astronauts are astronauts for a couple of years before they are assigned to a flight.

Everywhere I go I meet girls and boys who want to be astronauts and explore space, or they love the ocean and want to be oceanographers, or they love animals and want to be zoologists, or they love designing things and want to be engineers. I want to see those same stars in their eyes in 10 years and know they are on their way!

The space shuttle is a better and safer rocket than it was before the Challenger accident.