There Weren't Any Astronauts Until I Was

Even With Only Two People On Board, Where Maintenance Is A Large Piece Of Our Working Day, We Still Have Time To Do Scientific Research. We Have To Be Ready To Support Those Shuttle Visits In A Lot Of Different Ways.

After Assembly Complete, When We Have A Larger Crew On Orbit, A More Complex Vehicle, More Laboratories And More Robot Arms, Maybe We'll Have Room For Specialists. But Right Now We Don't.

It So Happened That My Goals Kind Of Matched My Career Progression Toward Becoming An Astronaut.

If I Wasn't Doing This Kind Of Exploration, I'd Like To Be Doing Some Other Kind Of Exploration. It Might Be More Risky, Or Less Risky, But, In The Business Of Exploration, Risk Is Part Of The Territory.

My Dad Served In Two Wars Has Been Flying Airplanes For 60 Years Now. He Was Certainly Quite An Inspiration.