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.

NASA has to approve whatever we wear, so there are clothes to choose from, like space shorts - we wear those a lot - and NASA T-shirts.

I do a lot of running and hiking, and I also collect stamps - space stamps and Olympics stamps.

On a standard space shuttle crew, two of the astronauts have a test pilot background - the commander and the pilot.

It's easy to sleep floating around - it's very comfortable. But you have to be careful that you don't float into somebody or something!

I think maybe it's too bad that our society isn't further along and this is such a big deal. I think it's time...that people realize that women in this country can do any job they want to do.

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