Sally Ride
I was always very interested in science, and I knew that for me, science was a better long-term career than tennis.Collection: Science
For a long time, society put obstacles in the way of women who wanted to enter the sciences.Collection: Women
I think it's important for little girls growing up, and young women, to have one in every walk of life. So from that point of view, I'm proud to be a role model!Collection: Life
Yes, I did feel a special responsibility to be the first American woman in space.Collection: Space
The food isn't too bad. It's very different from the food that the astronauts ate in the very early days of the space program.Collection: Space
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.Collection: Science
When the space shuttle's engines cut off, and you're finally in space, in orbit, weightless... I remember unstrapping from my seat, floating over to the window, and that's when I got my first view of Earth. Just a spectacular view, and a chance to see our planet as a planet.Collection: Space
The stars don't look bigger, but they do look brighter.Collection: Space
When you're getting ready to launch into space, you're sitting on a big explosion waiting to happen.Collection: Space
Rocket science is tough, and rockets have a way of failing.Collection: Space
All adventures, especially into new territory, are scary.Collection: Experience
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.Collection: Knowledge
Science is fun. Science is curiosity. We all have natural curiosity. Science is a process of investigating. It's posing questions and coming up with a method. It's delving in.Collection: Science
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.Collection: Space
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.Collection: Time
The space shuttle is a better and safer rocket than it was before the Challenger accident.Collection: Space
One thing I probably share with everyone else in the astronaut office is composure.Collection: Space
There are aspects of being the first woman in space that I'm not going to enjoy.Collection: Space
The experience of being in space didn't change my perspective of myself or of the planet or of life. I had no spiritual experience.Collection: Space
For quite some time, women at NASA only had scientific backgrounds.Collection: Women
I've discovered that half the people would love to go into space and there's no need to explain it to them. The other half can't understand and I couldn't explain it to them. If someone doesn't know why, I can't explain it.Collection: Space
But even in elementary school and junior high, I was very interested in space and in the space program.Collection: Space
I did not come to NASA to make history.Collection: History
The view of Earth is spectacular.Collection: Nature
The women's movement had already paved the way, I think, for my coming.Collection: Women
The fact that I was going to be the first American woman to go into space carried huge expectations along with it.Collection: Space
I liked math - that was my favorite subject - and I was very interested in astronomy and in physical science.Collection: Science
On a standard space shuttle crew, two of the astronauts have a test pilot background - the commander and the pilot.Collection: Space
So I saw many planets, and they looked just a little bit brighter than they do from Earth.
But when I wasn't working, I was usually at a window looking down at Earth.
I've spent my whole life not talking to people, and I don't see why I should start now.
My parents must have done a great job. Anytime I wanted to pursue something that they weren't familiar with, that was not part of their lifestyle, they let me go ahead and do it.
We can see cities during the day and at night, and we can watch rivers dump sediment into the ocean, and see hurricanes form.
The most anxious time was during launch, just because that is so dramatic.
I felt very honored, and I knew that people would be watching very closely, and I felt it was very, very important that I do a good job.
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.
Because I was a tennis player, Billie Jean King was a hero of mine.
So I decided on science when I was in college.
Well, we spend an awful lot of our time working and doing experiments. It's very busy up on the shuttle.
Then during the mission itself, I used the space shuttle's robot arm to release a satellite into orbit.
The astronauts who came in with me in my astronaut class - my class had 29 men and 6 women - those men were all very used to working with women.
I didn't really decide that I wanted to be an astronaut for sure until the end of college.
Even though NASA tries to simulate launch, and we practice in simulators, it's not the same - it's not even close to the same.
I had both male and female heroes.
Different astronauts sleep in different ways.
You know, I go around the country a lot.
My background is in physics, so I was the mission specialist, who is sort of like the flight engineer on an airplane.
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.
It's no secret that I've been reluctant to use my name for things.
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.