The most anxious time was during launch, just because that is so dramatic.

The view of earth is absolutely spectacular, and the feeling of looking back and seeing your planet as a planet is just an amazing feeling. It's a totally different perspective, and it makes you appreciate, actually, how fragile our existence is.

For quite some time, women at NASA only had scientific backgrounds.

There are lots of opportunities out there for women to work in these fields, ... Girls just need support, encouragement and mentoring to follow through with the sciences.

For a long time, society put obstacles in the way of women who wanted to enter the sciences.

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.

It's well known that many girls have a tendency to dumb down when they're in middle school.