The arts and sciences are avatars of human creativity.

Sometimes parents squash students' interests because they are afraid of science or math. So they don't participate. You don't have to know the answers to engage kids; you just have to let them know it's important.

What I'm very concerned about is how do we bolster our self-awareness as humans, as biological organisms?

When I left NASA, I was looking at how you could use space technologies for developing countries' work.

When I was a little girl, I thought when I had an opportunity to go into space, I thought I would at a minimum be working on Mars or another large planet because we were doing all of these incredible things.

Seeing a full display of humanity involved in space is a game-changer for everyone. We've all looked at the stars; we've all imagined what was going on. Not everyone wants to go, but everyone wants to know what it's like.

I think that people need an adrenalin rush. Folks need something aspirational; they need to do something that is hard. That's what ignites the imagination.

A big part of engaging kids in science is not getting the single, correct answer; it's being willing to work with students to discover the correct answer.

I wanted to be a scientist, but I wanted to go into space. They are not mutually exclusive.

One Hundred Year Starship really is about the idea that is we pursue an extraordinary tomorrow; we'll build a better world today.

The biggest challenge we all face is to learn about ourselves and to understand our strengths and weaknesses. We need to utilize our strengths, but not so much that we don't work on our weaknesses.

I like to think of ideas as potential energy. They're really wonderful, but nothing will happen until we risk putting them into action.

Sometimes people ask me how difficult the astronaut program was, but being in Sierra Leone, being responsible for the health of more than 200 people, seven days a week, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, at age 26 -- that prepared me to take on a lot of different challenges.

I'm not somebody who gets teared up or anything, but I still look up at the stars, and it gives me hope, and it gives me energy. I think one of the things that we have to think about it is, we are all a part of this universe.

Kids come out of the chute liking science. They ask, 'How come? Why? What's this?' They pick up stuff to examine it. We might not call that science, but it's discovering the world around us.

I think science fiction helps us think about possibilities, to speculate -- it helps us look at our society from a different perspective. It lets us look at our mores, using science as the backdrop, as the game changer.

There are individuals who can support you, but frequently, you have to risk putting yourself out there -- and sometimes you just have to push.

I wanted to be a professional dancer for a period of time, and I did a lot of dancing and choreography and got paid for it.

I had great mentors in my parents who always sought to understand the world around them. And they would push me to really think things through.

People like space. But they sometimes have been left out. People are much more open to that if you invite them in.