I never declared I wanted to be an astronaut, as I considered that was presumptuous.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I didn't really decide that I wanted to be an astronaut for sure until the end of college.
Well, for me it really wasn't a case of deciding to be an astronaut.
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 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.
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.
It took me a long time to get selected as an astronaut. In fact, I applied for 20 years before I was selected.
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've always hankered after going into space and walking on the moon and Mars. I did want to be an astronaut, and had there been a manned space flight programme in the U.K., I would have been knocking on the door.
I always wanted to be an astronaut.