The astronauts who came in with me in my astronaut class - my class had 29 men and 6 women - those men were all very used to working with women.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I think that over the years, whether they want to admit it or not, people have to admit that the women astronauts have performed just as well as the men astronauts.
The six people who had the biggest impact on my life were all women. Had I been sexist, my life would have been far less fulfilling.
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.
Not until the space shuttle started flying did NASA concede that some astronauts didn't have to be fast-jet pilots. And at that point, sure enough, women started becoming astronauts.
I always had more women working for me than men.
Yes, I did feel a special responsibility to be the first American woman in space.
In 1960-61, a small group of female pilots went through many of the same medical tests as the Mercury astronauts and scored very well on them - in fact, better than some of the astronauts did.
Cosmonauts can keep their word like men and women - particularly women.
From day one, I have been told I am no different from the male astronauts. As a pilot, I flew in the sky. Now that I am an astronaut, I will fly in space.
There are so many women who contributed in a very real way in pushing for the space program during the time in which there was a lot of competition to get into space first, and to know that there were African-American women who were integral in that success is pretty phenomenal.