The Stars Don't Look Bigger, But They

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.

On Both Of My Flights, Everything Went Very Well.

Eventually Private Enterprise Will Be Able To Send People Into Orbit, But I Suspect Initially It's Going To Have To Be With Nasa's Help. Whether It's Going To Be A Consortium Or One Entity Remains To Be Seen. I Could Be Wrong. I Could Be One Of The Old Fogies! Rocket Science Is Tough, And Rockets Have A Way Of Failing. It Happens. A Company Has To Be Willing To Bear The Risk Of Its Rocket Failing. It's A Very Large Capital Investment.

No, I Think Most Astronauts Recognize That The Space Shuttle Program Is Very High-risk, And Are Prepared For Accidents.

The View Of Earth Is Spectacular.