In the 19th Century people were looking for the Northwest Passage. Ships were lost and brave people were killed, but that doesn’t mean we never went back to that part of the world again, and...

Reach for the stars.

I was really desperate. I don’t know if you can remember back that far, but when I went to graduate school they didn’t want females in graduate school. They were very open about it. They...

I tell students that the opportunities I had were a result of having a good educational background. Education is what allows you to stand out.

The Earth reminded us of a Christmas tree ornament hanging in the blackness of space. As we got farther and farther away it diminished in size. Finally it shrank to the size of a marble,...

I have the LIFE magazine of the men walking on the moon.

It so happened that my goals kind of matched my career progression toward becoming an astronaut.

The president felt that it was important to send an ordinary citizen to experience the excitement of space travel as a representative for all Americans.

It was just using the liquid shampoo – the Russians have one very similar to the stuff we use on the Shuttle – you just wet your hair with it and then wipe it out.

I can remember in early elementary school when the Russians launched the first satellite. There was still so much unknown about space. People thought Mars was probably populated.

A civilization that only looks inward will stagnate. We have to keep looking outward; we have to keep finding new avenues for human endeavor and human expression.

I really don’t want to say goodbye to any of you people.

It took me a long time to get selected as an astronaut. In fact, I applied for 20 years before I was selected.