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I remember growing up thinking that astronauts and their job was the coolest thing you could possibly do... But I absolutely couldn't identify with the people who were astronauts. I thought they were movie stars.

There weren't any astronauts until I was about 10. Yuri Gagarin went into space right around my 10th birthday.

I was a naval officer and aviator. I tested airplanes and got selected to be an astronaut later on.

I'd love to go back to space, I don't know any astronaut who doesn't want to.

I always wanted to be an astronaut.

I was selected to be an astronaut on a military program called the Manned Orbiting Laboratory back in '67. That program got cancelled in '69 and NASA ended up taking half of us.

When I was younger, humans went to the moon when I was about 4 years old, and I imagined that as I got older and became an adult that traveling in space was going to be fairly common and something that we all did. So I grew up believing that I'll be an astronaut just like these guys were that were going to the moon.

I can't think of anything specific growing up that pointed me toward NASA at all. I was interested in the Moon landings just about the same as everyone else of my generation. But I never really thought about being an astronaut or working in space myself.

I never declared I wanted to be an astronaut, as I considered that was presumptuous.