Yes, I did feel a special responsibility to be the first American woman in space.
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.
I don’t have any nicknames.
Then during the mission itself, I used the space shuttle’s robot arm to release a satellite into orbit.
The space shuttle is a better and safer rocket than it was before the Challenger accident.
The astronauts who came in with me in my astronaut class – my class had 29 men and 6 women – those men were all very used to working with women.
Some astronauts sleep in sort of beds – compartments that you can open up and crawl into and then close up, almost like a little bedroom.
So I saw many planets, and they looked just a little bit brighter than they do from Earth.
The view of Earth is spectacular.
On both of my flights, everything went very well.
On a standard space shuttle crew, two of the astronauts have a test pilot background – the commander and the pilot.
No, I think most astronauts recognize that the space shuttle program is very high-risk, and are prepared for accidents.
NASA has to approve whatever we wear, so there are clothes to choose from, like space shorts – we wear those a lot – and NASA T-shirts.
It’s well known that many girls have a tendency to dumb down when they’re in middle school.
It’s no secret that I’ve been reluctant to use my name for things.
Weightless is a great equalizer.
You know, I go around the country a lot.
It takes a few years to prepare for a space mission.
The fact that I was going to be the first American woman to go into space carried huge expectations along with it.
So most astronauts are astronauts for a couple of years before they are assigned to a flight.