I didn't really decide that I wanted to be an astronaut for sure until the end of college.
I've spent my whole life not talking to people, and I don't see why I should start now.
Rocket science is tough, and rockets have a way of failing.
It was a real honor for me to get to be the first woman astronaut. I think it's really important that young girls that are growing up today can see that women can be astronauts too. There have actually been a lot of women, who are astronauts, that that's a career that's open to them.
So I decided on science when I was in college.
On a standard space shuttle crew, two of the astronauts have a test pilot background - the commander and the pilot.