It Took Me A Long Time To

If I Wasn't Doing This Kind Of Exploration, I'd Like To Be Doing Some Other Kind Of Exploration. It Might Be More Risky, Or Less Risky, But, In The Business Of Exploration, Risk Is Part Of The Territory.

We're Going To Be Focusing Our Science On Things That Will Take Us Farther And Longer Into Space. For Many Of Those Experiments, The Crew Members Are Human Guinea Pigs, Which Is Fine; That's Part Of My Job. I Don't Mind Being A Human Guinea Pig.

I Never Made A Career Decision Based Solely On My Desire To Be An Astronaut. I Attended The Naval Academy Because I Wanted To Be A Navy Pilot. I Majored In Math Because Math Had Always Come Pretty Easily To Me And I Liked It.

It So Happened That My Goals Kind Of Matched My Career Progression Toward Becoming An Astronaut.

My Dad Served In Two Wars Has Been Flying Airplanes For 60 Years Now. He Was Certainly Quite An Inspiration.