Once You Are Assigned To A Flight,

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.

I Can't Remember A Single Time [my Parents] Ever Told Me Not To Do Something I Wanted To Do.

My Background Is In Physics, So I Was The Mission Specialist, Who Is Sort Of Like The Flight Engineer On An Airplane.

I Would Like To Be Remembered As Someone Who Was Not Afraid To Do What She Wanted To Do, And As Someone Who Took Risks Along The Way In Order To Achieve Her Goals.

Even Though Nasa Tries To Simulate Launch, And We Practice In Simulators, It's Not The Same - It's Not Even Close To The Same.