So most astronauts getting ready to lift off are excited and very anxious and worried about that explosion - because if something goes wrong in the first seconds of launch, there's not very much you can do.

I've discovered that half the people would love to go into space and there's no need to explain it to them. The other half can't understand and I couldn't explain it to them. If someone doesn't know why, I can't explain it.

For whatever reason, I didn't succumb to the stereotype that science wasn't for girls. I got encouragement from my parents. I never ran into a teacher or a counselor who told me that science was for boys. A lot of my friends did.

There are aspects of being the first woman in space that I'm not going to enjoy.

The fact that I was going to be the first American woman to go into space carried huge expectations along with it.

Science is fun. Science is curiosity. We all have natural curiosity. Science is a process of investigating. It's posing questions and coming up with a method. It's delving in.

No, I think most astronauts recognize that the space shuttle program is very high-risk, and are prepared for accidents.

So I decided on science when I was in college.

All adventures, especially into new territory, are scary.

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.

It takes a couple of years just to get the background and knowledge that you need before you can go into detailed training for your mission.

I do a lot of running and hiking, and I also collect stamps - space stamps and Olympics stamps.

The experience of being in space didn't change my perspective of myself or of the planet or of life. I had no spiritual experience.

The stars don't look bigger, but they do look brighter.

Rocket science is tough, and rockets have a way of failing.

The stars don't look bigger, but they do look brighter.

I did not come to NASA to make history.

For a long time, society put obstacles in the way of women who wanted to enter the sciences.

Studying whether there's life on Mars or studying how the universe began, there's something magical about pushing back the frontiers of knowledge. That's something that is almost part of being human, and I'm certain that will continue.

The food isn't too bad. It's very different from the food that the astronauts ate in the very early days of the space program.