There's a huge amount of pressure on every astronaut, because when you get right down to it, the experiments that are conducted on a space flight, or the satellites that are carried up, the work that's to be done, is important and expensive work, and you are up there for a week or two on a Space Shuttle flight. The country has invested a lot of money in you and your training, and the Space Shuttle and everything that's in it, and you have to do things correctly. You can't make a mistake during that week or two that you're in space.
Sally RideSome astronauts sleep in sort of beds - compartments that you can open up and crawl into and then close up, almost like a little bedroom.
Sally RideI do a lot of running and hiking, and I also collect stamps - space stamps and Olympics stamps.
Sally RideThe space shuttle is a better and safer rocket than it was before the Challenger accident.
Sally RideI 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.
Sally RideThe most important steps that I followed were studying math and science in school. I was always interested in physics and astronomy and chemistry and I continued to study those subjects through high school and college on into graduate school. That's what prepared me for being an astronaut; it actually gave me the qualifications to be selected to be an astronaut.
Sally Ride