That's something that is almost part of being human and I'm certain that will continue.

You know, I go around the country a lot.

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

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

You can picture pretty easily if there were a paying passenger aboard a rocket that failed, like Challenger failed. Certainly it would be a tragedy, and a tragedy for the company. They would have a hard time recovering from it.

No, I think most astronauts recognize that the space shuttle program is very high-risk, and are prepared for accidents.

The pressure suit helps if something goes wrong during launch or re-entry - astronauts have a way to parachute off the shuttle. The suits protect you from loss of pressure in case of emergency.