I never made a career decision based solely on my desire to be an astronaut. I attended the Naval Academy because I wanted to be a Navy pilot. I majored in math because math had always come pretty easily to me and I liked it.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I progressed through my schooling, undergraduate and graduate degrees, excited about math and science and engineering, but really didn't think about being an astronaut at that point. It was kind of unreachable.
I didn't really decide that I wanted to be an astronaut for sure until the end of college.
I loved being a test pilot, and so being an astronaut was - was not my end point in, you know, either I achieved success by being an astronaut, or if I don't get picked, I'm not successful. I loved my career as a pilot, and it was a bonus to be selected as an astronaut.
It so happened that my goals kind of matched my career progression toward becoming an astronaut.
I was a naval officer and aviator. I tested airplanes and got selected to be an astronaut later on.
I never declared I wanted to be an astronaut, as I considered that was presumptuous.
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.
And, so I set my goals on astronaut because, as a military aviator, it was, I considered that to be about the peak of a flying career.
I wanted to be a doctor at one point and I also wanted to be a pilot. I think if you grow up in a dodgy area, reality often beats down those ambitions as you get older. But with me that never really happened.
I always wanted to be an astronaut.