That's always been a tough thing. I've always struggled with staying present and not worrying too much about the future or the past. I'm always either dwelling on the past, or missing the past, or worrying about the future. So that's been a big challenge, because this type of lifestyle goes extremely fast.

I prefer not to compartmentalize my life.

It is possible to be a good scientist, a good mother and have a family and even bake a cake.

I always acted to be able to afford paints.

Those are important, but there is still a need for any youngster who has any scientific interest at all to continue the lead that we have on technology in the world today, if we are interested in the future of the United States.

And I say, “Every single dollar that was spent on the space program, went into the pockets of the individuals who worked on it: the contractors, the subcontractors, the vendors. It went to feed their children, put clothes on their back, send them to school.…If we are going to be the leaders of the world, and we are going to worry about trade balance, if we are going to worry about military systems, or solving the problems of the environment, we are going to have to continue to spend money on research, medical research as well.

To me and, I think, to all of us, it was a realization that our world is finite, it is small, it is fragile, and we need to start thinking about how to take care of it.

I didn’t like it at all. This problem is called Meniere’s syndrome. It causes dizziness, nausea, lack of balance and so on. The prediction was that in some cases it was correctable. I said, “In my case it is going to be correctable.”

We always tried to share experiences with them. It was a little more difficult for them after the astronaut business, but they’ve responded well. All three are happily married, with their youngsters. And they’re not just happy homemakers. They’re all involved in little projects of their own, because they are challenged by wanting to help local charities, or wanting to start a business. I think they have turned out reasonably well.

I think all of us certainly believed the statistics, which said that probably 88 percent chance of mission success and maybe 96 percent chance of survival. And we were willing to take those odds.