What is the most unexpected thing you experienced in space?
I wasn't quite prepared for the view of the Earth as we left. It was just awe-inspiring. It emerged from just a slightly curved horizon to a whole Earth, where you could look across oceans and continents in a single glance. I wasn't quite prepared for that. It's inevitably etched in my memory.
When viewing the Earth from space, do you feel detached from humanity or more a part of the totality of humankind?
Detached. You're literally detached from one planet, captured by another. Your only link to reality is the Earth out there ; fortunate - 1y, it stays in view the whole time.
There're a lot of suspicions that the International Space Station is never going to become reality. Is it going to be some future project that never happens?
I believe it's certainly for real. It without question has suffered a lot of delays. But there's hardware sitting on the pad right now and it's due to go off in December. It is a reality. It has just taken longer to get literally off the ground.
There were a lot of talks during the Bush administration about a not too distant future Mars mission. It seemed to fizzle out. Do you think that this Shuttle mission will reignite the public's passion for space and get us to Mars sooner?
I hope this flight is not just a one-time affair, that it does re-ignite people's interest to push on. But only time will tell.
You had gone to the moon twice, orbited space around the Earth lots of times, and of course you have had the most amazing views that a human being can have. How long do we ordinary beings have to wait to feel the weightlessness? I just can't wait.
If I were the man making the decisions, you could get in line tomorrow. I strongly support ordinary people going into space. Unfortunately, I don't think it will be in the near future.