So I saw many planets, and they looked just a little bit brighter than they do from Earth.

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

I felt very honored, and I knew that people would be watching very closely, and I felt it was very, very important that I do a good job.

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

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!

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.

No, I think most astronauts recognize that the space shuttle program is very high-risk, and are prepared for accidents.