My Antarctic expedition is just about doable, just feasible and that's what is exciting to me. If I knew it was possible, if I knew I could do it without too much bother, I wouldn't be interested.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I used to take my car and go down to the South Island for five or six days and climb glaciers and jump out of planes and jump off bridges and go white water rafting - a bit of thrill-seeking.
Now my eyes are turned from the South to the North, and I want to lead one more Expedition. This will be the last... to the North Pole.
That's what we want to do here at Johnson Space Center. I think what we have always brought to NASA and brought to the country is trying to push the boundaries, trying to go to the next level.
The most adventurous I've been was doing Raleigh International when I was 20.
I've been approached to do some things with astronauts and the preparation that astronauts go through.
I have actually led more expeditions to Antarctica than Scott, Amundsen, and Shackleton put together.
I went to Antarctica on a science research boat just to sort of clear my head.
The most adventurous thing I've done is learn how to fly a helicopter in the Philippines. One night we landed on a beach and slept on it.
Antarctica is a very alien environment, and you can't survive here more than minutes if you're not equipped properly and doing the right thing all the time.
I have wanted to fly into space for many years, but never imagined it would really be feasible.