I think maybe it's too bad that our society isn't further along and this is such a big deal. I think it's time...that people realize that women in this country can do any job they want to do.

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.

Astronauts will remain the explorers, the pioneers-the first to go back to moon and on to Mars. But I think it's really important to make space space available to as many people as we can. It's going to be a while before we can launch people for less than $20 million a ticket. But that day is coming.

I've spent my whole life not talking to people, and I don't see why I should start now.

We need to make science cool again.

The fact that I was going to be the first American woman to go into space carried huge expectations along with it.

Ever been to Disneyland? That was definitely an E ticket!