I Didn't Really Decide That I Wanted

So Most Astronauts Are Astronauts For A Couple Of Years Before They Are Assigned To A Flight.

When The Space Shuttle's Engines Cut Off, And You're Finally In Space, In Orbit, Weightless... I Remember Unstrapping From My Seat, Floating Over To The Window, And That's When I Got My First View Of Earth. Just A Spectacular View, And A Chance To See Our Planet As A Planet.

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.

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.

The 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.