Suppose you came across a woman lying on the street with an elephant sitting on her chest. You notice she is short of breath. Shortness of breath can be a symptom of heart problems. In her case, the much more likely cause is the elephant on her chest. For a long time, society put obstacles in the way of women who wanted to enter the sciences. That is the elephant. Until the playing field has veen leveled and lingering stereotypes are gone, you can't even ask the question.

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

There's a huge amount of pressure on every astronaut, because when you get right down to it, the experiments that are conducted on a space flight, or the satellites that are carried up, the work that's to be done, is important and expensive work, and you are up there for a week or two on a Space Shuttle flight. The country has invested a lot of money in you and your training, and the Space Shuttle and everything that's in it, and you have to do things correctly. You can't make a mistake during that week or two that you're in space.

I have a lot of common sense. I know what needs to be done and how to approach it. I have an ability to work with people on large enterprises.

Even though NASA tries to simulate launch, and we practice in simulators, it's not the same - it's not even close to the same.

It takes a couple of years just to get the background and knowledge that you need before you can go into detailed training for your mission.

So I decided on science when I was in college.