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.

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.

When you're getting ready to launch into space, you're sitting on a big explosion waiting to happen.

The rockets light! The shuttle leaps off the launch pad in a cloud of steam and a trail of fire.

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

My parents must have done a great job. Anytime I wanted to pursue something that they weren't familiar with, that was not part of their lifestyle, they let me go ahead and do it.

After the Challenger accident, NASA put in a lot of time to improve the safety of the space shuttle to fix the things that had gone wrong.