Q: You have flown four NASA missions over the past decade, including last year’s Discovery mission. What does it take?
A: It takes a love of the job and a real commitment to our mission to explore space. I very much enjoy the people I work with. I come to work every day not thinking of it as work; I think of it as my life.
Q: You’re based at NASA in Houston. When did you know you wanted to be an astronaut?
A: In fourth grade. I read an article in Junior Scholastic magazine about the Gemini program and the Gemini astronauts. This would’ve been around the mid- to late 1960s. All the astronauts were men. But in 1978, when NASA hired the first class of space-shuttle astronauts, it included the first six women ever selected to be astronauts. That year, I graduated from college. I decided I would pursue the job of being an astronaut. I was finally hired in 1990.
Q: Why and when did you first come to Colorado Springs?
A: I was an assistant professor in mathematics from 1986 through 1989 at the Air Force Academy. I also flew the light aircraft at the academy airfield. I was an instructor for the seniors who were preparing for Air Force pilot training.
Q: How did your time at Webster University in Colorado Springs prepare you?
A: From 1987 to 1989, I worked on a space-systems management degree. One of the courses involved building a space station. I also took courses in space communication, space law and orbital mechanics. The degree was a management degree with a light technical emphasis.
Q: Is there a dream flight for astronauts?
A: It is just exciting to go fly. We always say the best flight is the one you’re assigned to. Every flight has a fantastic team of people that work together. I wouldn’t have traded any of my flights for anything.
Q: What have you learned most from spaceflight?
A: I would say sending people into space is difficult and risky, but it is worth doing. Someday people will live routinely off of this planet, in other parts of the solar system and, eventually, in other parts of the galaxy. If you look at history, countries that became strong and remain strong explored and went beyond their boundaries.
Q: How do you feel about the civilian billionaires who are trying to get into space?
A: I wish the best of luck to the commercial companies that are looking at ways to send tourists to space. I want to see them have an accident-free, successful program. And I want to see more people flying into space.
NASA’s job is to do things first, take the risk, and yes, sometimes we make mistakes. When a system becomes mature, we would like to pass it on to the commercial sector, and NASA will go on and do something new. I would like to see commercial enterprises eventually go to the moon and use the resources there.
Q: What are some of those resources?
A: Yet to be discovered. We know there is helium-3 on the moon. There might be ice; there might be water in the form of ice at the poles. We can use the moon as a research station.
Q: Would you have interest in flying as a tourist?
A: Yes. Probably not right away, but maybe 10 or 20 years from now. On my shuttle flights, I worked constantly. I had very little time to look out the window and enjoy the human side of being in space. I would like to go back and spend more time just enjoying the experience of spaceflight.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: There were seven of us on the flight last summer. Six of them have been assigned to other jobs. I am still working on the shuttle mission that I flew last summer. I’m still helping tie up some loose ends on the technical side. I’m doing a lot of public speaking and sharing our mission with people around the country.
Q: What were the main goals of the Discovery mission?
A: The first was to test the new techniques that were developed after the Columbia accident to inspect the shuttle for damage and to test ways to repair potential damage. The other goal was to resupply and repair the space station. The international space station has been in orbit and permanently manned for five years. When we docked, two crew members were there. We brought them supplies, science experiments, food, logistics. It was a very successful flight.
Q: What are you going to do next?
A: I’m looking around for what I’m going to do next. I don’t know yet. I will work within the space program because that’s where my experience lies.
Q: Knowing what you know about space, do you believe in extraterrestrial life and UFOs?
A: I think there is life elsewhere in this big universe of ours. That’s just my personal opinion. The mathematical odds are that life is out there somewhere. I think that is very exciting.
Q: Do you think Colorado has a nationwide image as an aerospace state?
A: Yes. With the military – Peterson Air Force Base, NORAD – there’s an image that Colorado is involved in the space program. Not necessarily NASA, but the unmanned space program. It’s a good image, and it really begins with the military.
Edited for space and clarity from an interview by staff writer Andy Vuong.
