My background is in physics, so I was the mission specialist, who is sort of like the flight engineer on an airplane.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
And now for Return to Flight, I'm chief of robotics working in the astronaut office in Houston, as a Canadian.
I never intended to become a professional pilot. But, as I became more curious about aircraft, and, well, not being John Travolta, I realized that the only way I was ever going to fly a jet is if I got a job.
I wanted to further my education, so I went on to get a Ph.D. in electrical engineering and came back and served about ten years in the Canadian Navy as what we call a combat systems engineer.
I went to military college in Canada and graduated as an officer in the Navy but also as an engineer.
I used to work on a survey crew, because my dad was an engineer, but he was also a surveyor.
I usually describe myself as an engineer; that's basically what I've been doing since I was a kid.
My odyssey to become an astronaut kind of started in grad school, and I was working, up at MIT, in space robotics-related work; human and robot working together.
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've been an engineer, barman, skip lorry driver, coalman, boat window manufacturer, contract grass cutter and builder.
I was a naval officer and aviator. I tested airplanes and got selected to be an astronaut later on.