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.

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

So most astronauts are astronauts for a couple of years before they are assigned to a flight.

One thing I probably share with everyone else in the astronaut office is composure.

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

It takes a few years to prepare for a space mission.

The space shuttle is a better and safer rocket than it was before the Challenger accident.