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Then there was the challenge to keep doing better and better, to fly the best test flight that anybody had ever flown. That led to my being recognized as one of the more experienced test pilots, and that led to the astronaut business.

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 had a chance to fly a lot of different airplanes, but it was nothing like the shuttle ride.

I could have gone on flying through space forever.

We were flying on a winged vehicle that would do reentry different than we had ever done before. So all of those were firsts. Test pilots truly love firsts.

I have wanted to fly into space for many years, but never imagined it would really be feasible.

And so, I was not a military test pilot, but as soon as NASA expressed an interest in flying scientists and people who were not military test pilots, that was an epiphany that just came like a stroke of lightning.

Aviation - and space travel, in particular - have always been especially captivating.

In the early days of aviation, there was a great deal of experimentation and a high death rate.

I wanted to travel from the beginning. As a kid, I used to dream about airplanes, before I ever flew in one.