I never went into physics or the astronaut corps to become a role model. But after my first flight, it became clear to me that I was one. And I began to understand the importance of that to people. Young girls need to see role models in whatever careers they may choose, just so they can picture themselves doing those jobs someday. You can't be what you can't see.

The stars don't look bigger, but they do look brighter.

Ever been to Disneyland? That was definitely an E ticket!

Once you are assigned to a flight, the whole crew is assigned at the same time, and then that crew trains together for a whole year to prepare for that flight.

Science is fun. Science is curiosity. We all have natural curiosity. Science is a process of investigating. It's posing questions and coming up with a method. It's delving in.

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

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