I didn't really decide that I wanted to be an astronaut for sure until the end of college.

I find myself looking around for other new, interesting opportunities to dive into.

The thing I'll remember most about the flight is that it was fun. In fact, I'm sure it was the most fun that I'll ever have in my life.

So I decided on science when I was in college.

I haven't written my memoirs or let the television movie be made about my life.

After the Challenger accident, NASA put in a lot of time to improve the safety of the space shuttle to fix the things that had gone wrong.

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.

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

I've spent my whole life not talking to people, and I don't see why I should start now.

On both of my flights, everything went very well.

It takes a few years to prepare for a space mission.

I have a lot of common sense. I know what needs to be done and how to approach it. I have an ability to work with people on large enterprises.

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.

One thing I probably share with everyone else in the astronaut office is composure.

There are lots of opportunities out there for women to work in these fields, ... Girls just need support, encouragement and mentoring to follow through with the sciences.

Well, we spend an awful lot of our time working and doing experiments. It's very busy up on the shuttle.

But when I wasn't working, I was usually at a window looking down at Earth.

Then during the mission itself, I used the space shuttle's robot arm to release a satellite into orbit.

When you're getting ready to launch into space, you're sitting on a big explosion just waiting to happen.

Different astronauts sleep in different ways.