It's No Secret That I've

The Most Important Steps That I Followed Were Studying Math And Science In School. I Was Always Interested In Physics And Astronomy And Chemistry And I Continued To Study Those Subjects Through High School And College On Into Graduate School. That's What Prepared Me For Being An Astronaut; It Actually Gave Me The Qualifications To Be Selected To Be An Astronaut.

The Best Advice I Can Give Anybody Is To Try To Understand Who You Are And What You Want To Do, And Don't Be Afraid To Go Down That Road And Do Whatever It Takes And Work As Hard As You Have To Work To Achieve That.

The Pressure Suit Helps If Something Goes Wrong During Launch Or Re-entry - Astronauts Have A Way To Parachute Off The Shuttle. The Suits Protect You From Loss Of Pressure In Case Of Emergency.

I Do A Lot Of Running And Hiking, And I Also Collect Stamps - Space Stamps And Olympics Stamps.

I Never Went Into Physics Or The Astronaut Corps To Become A Role Model. But After My First Flight, It Became Clear To Me That I Was One. And I Began To Understand The Importance Of That To People. Young Girls Need To See Role Models In Whatever Careers They May Choose, Just So They Can Picture Themselves Doing Those Jobs Someday. You Can't Be What You Can't See.