I have said many times I don't want to be considered one who once flew fighters. That's not who I am. I devoted the subsequent 50 years - more - to writing.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
My dad served in two wars has been flying airplanes for 60 years now. He was certainly quite an inspiration.
I've always wanted to be a fighter pilot. But I don't want to kill people. I'd hate to.
I've often said that there's no one thing that I do or have done that is particularly unique. There have been a lot of other authors who were in the military. There have been a few others who were pilots. There have certainly been a lot of other people who were in politics or served congressional staffs.
I grew up thinking that I would become a fighter pilot and was fascinated by aircrafts as I had grown up around that. But my father encouraged me to not become an Air Force person, given the varied interests I had, be it books, movies, sports or fighter flying.
I flew fighters for the Navy in San Diego for three years, went and did my post-graduate education, and then I was a test pilot in Patuxent River, Maryland, for a few years. I was back in the fleet in the Navy when I was selected to come back here to NASA to become an astronaut.
I've always been a fighter and I've always fought through things my whole life.
I just personally decided I was going to be the first woman fighter pilot.
I'm a unique fighter - one of a kind.
My whole life, I wanted to be a fighter pilot; it's what I wanted to do. I set up all of my classes for it, but I got lazy my senior year in high school and didn't get my paperwork in.
There's never been someone like me in history - a fighter like me only comes along every 1,000 years.