I don't particularly want to jump out of an airplane with a parachute if I don't have to. I don't want to go bungee jumping. I like adventure with a real purpose that I can buy into.
There's a perspective that I've gained as an astronaut that I didn't get from my science activities. In my science activities, I learned by the seat of my pants. Spending 17 years as an astronaut, I learned the NASA formalism of systems engineering as if my life depended on it. Literally.
The first thing to know about space food - it is the ambiance; it is the environment. It is not the food.
Being an astronaut, there are not a lot of things that have really shocked me in my life.
Sciences are being unified by the search for life in the universe.
Going to Mars would make NASA great again.
I see no difference between scientific exploration and human exploration.
To help enable the kind of science Hubble is performing makes my life worthwhile.
The only reason Hubble works is because we have a space shuttle.
We're being very careful that we don't send a spacecraft to Mars with the intention of detecting Martian life - and find out that we detected the Earth life that we took with us.
At the age of six, I declared that I wanted to be an astronaut. My mother thought that was just fine, as it would encourage me to learn science, and besides, there really was no chance I would ever actually become an astronaut.
The Martian atmosphere is very thin. It's like our atmosphere at 100,000 feet.
The things I like to do involve a lot of mental focus, a combination of physical and mental challenge. That is what mountain climbing is.
The best would be to fly in space with family and friends.
Sometimes astronauts feel a little ill or get minor scrapes. I trained as a crew medical officer to do basic treatment.
After my spacewalks, I am quite exhilarated but also tired, similar to a workout on Planet Earth.
We need to move off the planet. And Mars is the next best place.
I'm an incurable romantic. But I'm not an adrenaline junkie.
Once we get beyond Mars, which formed from the same stuff as Earth, the likelihood that life is similar to what we find on this planet is very low.
I thrive with high-performance challenges in front of me.
