I left Aerospace because I wanted to go build, and put spacecraft together.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I stayed in the astronaut program until 1993. People ask me why I left. I thought I had a lot of things to contribute that would be difficult to do if I stayed. I thought I could have a stronger voice as an advocate for space exploration. So I ended up starting my own technology consulting company.
After being once in space, I was keen to go back there. But it didn't happen.
I didn't really decide that I wanted to be an astronaut for sure until the end of college.
After I finished my master's degree, I moved to a company called Aerospace Corporation, a big think tank for the U.S. Air Force and the National Reconnaissance Office.
We were young, we were pilots, and we were hungry to test the new technology of 'space machines.' And we all wanted to be first.
I've put a lot of my life into making it possible to fly in space at all.
It so happened that my goals kind of matched my career progression toward becoming an astronaut.
I always wanted to be an astronaut.
When I started flying, I realized how enjoyable it was, and flying became my main focus while engineering went on the back burner.
I don't know why I always liked aerospace engineering. I was in the 10th grade when I figured that's what I wanted to do.