How did you become interested in space exploration?
It all started when I was nine years old; I was in fourth grade reading an article in a magazine about the Gemini program. They were profiling the astronauts and the missions, and that was when I really, as far back as I remember, found myself very interested in the space program. While I attended summer camp as a child I would visit the glider field and we’d watch the gliders take off. So there was a little bit of aviation in my background, and I think that’s maybe the roots of my getting interested in aviation and space.
Were you proud to be selected as the first female Space Shuttle pilot?
Back in 1989 I interviewed for the job of Space Shuttle pilot, and in January of 1990 I talked to John Young and he told me that I was selected, and also I was going to be the first woman pilot. It was 16 January 1990; I remember the date. I went through training from the summer of 1990 to the summer of 1991. It was September of 1993 when
I was actually assigned to a flight, and then that mission [STS-63] didn’t fly until February of 1995. Then, of course, there was a lot of attention. Was it a proud moment? I would say yes, but not for me as much as it was,
