Our future lies with today's kids and tomorrow's space exploration.

The pressure suit helps if something goes wrong during launch or re-entry - astronauts have a way to parachute off the shuttle. The suits protect you from loss of pressure in case of emergency.

Then during the mission itself, I used the space shuttle's robot arm to release a satellite into orbit.

Yes, I did feel a special responsibility to be the first American woman in space.

You can picture pretty easily if there were a paying passenger aboard a rocket that failed, like Challenger failed. Certainly it would be a tragedy, and a tragedy for the company. They would have a hard time recovering from it.

Studying whether there's life on Mars or studying how the universe began, there's something magical about pushing back the frontiers of knowledge. That's something that is almost part of being human, and I'm certain that will continue.

Because I was a tennis player, Billie Jean King was a hero of mine.