I love the John Glenn model... I may call NASA in 25 years or so, and see if they'd like to send me to Mars.

I felt very honored, and I knew that people would be watching very closely, and I felt it was very, very important that I do a good job.

I didn't really decide that I wanted to be an astronaut for sure until the end of college.

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.

You know, I go around the country a lot.

I think eventually private enterprise will be able to send people into orbit, but I suspect initially it's going to have to be with NASA's help.

If it wasn't for the women's movement, I wouldn't be where I am today.