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 most important steps that I followed were studying math and science in school. I was always interested in physics and astronomy and chemistry and I continued to study those subjects through high school and college on into graduate school. That's what prepared me for being an astronaut; it actually gave me the qualifications to be selected to be an astronaut.

I was always very interested in science, and I knew that for me, science was a better long-term career than tennis.

I would like to be remembered as someone who was not afraid to do what she wanted to do, and as someone who took risks along the way in order to achieve her goals.

But even in elementary school and junior high, I was very interested in space and in the space program.

Rocket science is tough, and rockets have a way of failing.

It's well known that many girls have a tendency to dumb down when they're in middle school.