As a young boy growing up on the South Side of Chicago, I was inspired by the nascent space age.
The truth is, every single rocket launch off of planet Earth is risky.
The Hubble Space Telescope, which was designed for extreme servicing, you know, we can fix everything. And the James Webb Space Telescope, where we can fix nothing. It has to work the first time. And it's a very complicated telescope.
Hubble showed us the marvel and majesty of stars being born.
I think it's really a sign of great American strength that we do invest the money we do in technology, in these hard projects, in NASA.
As soon as I could ride a bike... I was always riding over to the Museum of Science and Industry to explore. It's where I first began to develop a fascination with machines and scientific principles.
Absolutely the most fun thing to do in space and rewarding thing, in many ways, is to look back at planet Earth.
Science at NASA is all about exploring the endless frontier of the Earth and space.
Regardless of what dreams you have, work very hard, play very hard, and have fun.
I kind of feel like I found my cause in life servicing the Hubble Space Telescope.
We don't know how many planets we're going to have to examine before we find life, and not finding it on 10 or 100 doesn't mean it's not there. This may be very tricky.
Life outside of Earth is probably going to be really hard to find.
One of the things that happens in space is that there is a fluid shift. You get a lot of extra pressure, and it fills your sinuses, and the horseradish is a miracle worker for cleaning that out.
Because of Hubble and other telescopes, we've now discovered that there are probably planets around every star, or virtually every star. There are solar systems around most stars. And the fact that we're here on a planet, Earth, means that it's likely there's lots of other Earths out there.
The strangest thing I've found is that when I got to space, I felt more comfortable in space that I've ever been on Earth before. I just felt this is my home.
Once in a while, the universe lets you be free alone and in peace.
Our country... invests a tiny fraction of 1 percent in NASA, and this is what's so amazing to me, is with that small investment, we do so much for the country.
I was not really scared on my spacewalks. We practice so much and need to stay so focused that it has a calming effect on me. I do a kind of visualization and meditation in the airlock prior to going outside, to guide my first activities once I get out in space.
I got lucky and got assigned to Hubble.
What we do at NASA is inspiring. It's reaching, it's visionary, and it inspires people on Earth to try hard things.
