It Takes A Couple Of

It's No Secret That I've Been Reluctant To Use My Name For Things.

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.

One Thing I Probably Share With Everyone Else In The Astronaut Office Is Composure.

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.

There's A Huge Amount Of Pressure On Every Astronaut, Because When You Get Right Down To It, The Experiments That Are Conducted On A Space Flight, Or The Satellites That Are Carried Up, The Work That's To Be Done, Is Important And Expensive Work, And You Are Up There For A Week Or Two On A Space Shuttle Flight. The Country Has Invested A Lot Of Money In You And Your Training, And The Space Shuttle And Everything That's In It, And You Have To Do Things Correctly. You Can't Make A Mistake During That Week Or Two That You're In Space.