I can't remember a single time [my parents] ever told me not to do something I wanted to do.

We can see cities during the day and at night, and we can watch rivers dump sediment into the ocean, and see hurricanes form.

Suppose you came across a woman lying on the street with an elephant sitting on her chest. You notice she is short of breath. Shortness of breath can be a symptom of heart problems. In her case, the much more likely cause is the elephant on her chest. For a long time, society put obstacles in the way of women who wanted to enter the sciences. That is the elephant. Until the playing field has veen leveled and lingering stereotypes are gone, you can't even ask the question.

It was a real honor for me to get to be the first woman astronaut. I think it's really important that young girls that are growing up today can see that women can be astronauts too. There have actually been a lot of women, who are astronauts, that that's a career that's open to them.

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.

I find myself looking around for other new, interesting opportunities to dive into.

I did not come to NASA to make history.