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

All adventures, especially into new territory, are scary.

Astronauts will remain the explorers, the pioneers-the first to go back to moon and on to Mars. But I think it's really important to make space space available to as many people as we can. It's going to be a while before we can launch people for less than $20 million a ticket. But that day is coming.

But even in elementary school and junior high, I was very interested in space and in the space program.

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

So most astronauts are astronauts for a couple of years before they are assigned to a flight.

Then during the mission itself, I used the space shuttle's robot arm to release a satellite into orbit.