You think America is the biggest place on Earth, but it's not. [The view from Mir] put everything in perspective.

When I got my PhD, it was a time when there were just no jobs for PhDs. Period. PhDs were getting the lowest paid technician jobs, if they were lucky, in any kind of science.

The only thing it would be nice to have more of would be M & M's.

I was really desperate. I don't know if you can remember back that far, but when I went to graduate school they didn't want females in graduate school. They were very open about it. They didn't mince their words. But then I got in and I got my degree.

You think America is the biggest place on Earth, but it's not. [The view from Mir] put everything in perspective.

You're in charge but don't touch the controls.

You're in charge but don't touch the controls. Recounting what the two Russian cosmonauts tell her each time they leave the Mir space station for a spacewalk.