For whatever reason, I didn't succumb to the stereotype that science wasn't for girls. I got encouragement from my parents. I never ran into a teacher or a counselor who told me that science was for boys. A lot of my friends did.

On a standard space shuttle crew, two of the astronauts have a test pilot background - the commander and the pilot.

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

Some astronauts sleep in sort of beds - compartments that you can open up and crawl into and then close up, almost like a little bedroom.

The food isn't too bad. It's very different from the food that the astronauts ate in the very early days of the space program.

That's something that is almost part of being human and I'm certain that will continue.

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