I think windows are really important for the psychological health of crew members on long duration missions. It is nice to look outside, even if it is dark.
The Russians have been flying long duration crews since the early '70's. And in the early days, they've ended at least two missions early because of conflicts within the crew. So, they learned early on the importance of studying this and making sure you put the right crew together. Since we began our work together on the International Space station with the Russians in the early 2000's, NASA has started to learn the importance of this kind of work. And so, I think it's important work and we are not fully onboard and recognize it as important.
The most important thing about an astronaut is you have to take for a given a person's done pretty well in school, has the intelligence and all of that to learn new systems and new things. But after that, the most important thing I think is being able to get along with others. Flexibility and teamwork, those issues because as we fly longer and longer in space, those are really important factors, even on short shuttle missions, those are important factors, to put a crew together that can work together effectively as a team, that can get along.
I bought Windows 2.0, Windows 3.0, Windows 3.1415926, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows RSVP, The Best of Windows, Windows Strikes Back, Windows Does Dallas, and Windows Let's All Buy Bill Gates a House the Size of Vermont.
If you look at the offense like a fancy car, the offensive line is the engine. Even though we might have nice spinners and nice rims and tinted windows and some neat paint job, it doesn't mean crap without the engine. If the engine's not working, the car might look like a pretty nice car, but it's a piece of crap.
When I first went to Hubble, as an astronomer and as a scientist, it was a dream come true. And as an astronaut, the Hubble missions are premiere missions because Hubble is so important to science, so important to humanity, that it's just a very special event. But as an astronomer, it was sort of the holy grail of missions.
One thing that I've been doing for a long time is to wake up really early. I try to get up around 4 or 5 in the morning, long before most of my lab members are up, which gives me some quiet time to really think without distraction. I think that's important.
It's nice to be important but it's even more important to be nice. I grew up in a world where there were a lot of big physical guys...and woman so it's always important to be nice to me.
I'm challenged to races. Never a stranger. I've had a good friend of mine who, to be honest, is tiny and, like, should have assumed that I could have beat him, that I'm faster than him, and then crew members, two different crew members. I'm 3 and 0.
I think I look great in pretty much everything... kidding! For the red carpet, I like to do really natural eyes and a nice sleek ponytail. Sometimes I'm into a really dark rouge, purple bold lip.
What is more refreshing than salads when your appetite seems to have deserted you, or even after a capacious dinner - the nice, fresh, green, and crisp salad, full of life and health, which seems to invigorate the palate and dispose the masticating powers to a much lorger duration.
What is more refreshing than salads when your appetite seems to have deserted you, or even after a capacious dinner — the nice, fresh, green, and crisp salad, full of life and health, which seems to invigorate the, palate and dispose the masticating powers to a much longer duration.
The Pentagon is a series of wedges. So you have - the outer wedge has windows on the outside, and then inside of that, it has windows with an alleyway; then there's another wedge with windows outside, windows inside. And we call them the E Ring, the D Ring, the C Ring.
For long-duration exploration missions, NASA is looking for folks with a lot of operational, hands-on experience, people who have been in field-type situations such as military deployments. In my case, I worked in the Congo and in Biosafety Level 4 labs on smallpox.
As my father went through a really, really long and dark period of his health declining and falling deeper into the abyss, I knew I was never going to let my family and my children experience this without any long-term care.
So, for me, I make no difference whether I'm training with my shuttle crew or the Expedition crew. Of course, I think I want to take more care of the Expedition crew, because they're going to stay there for a long time.
I love the rehearsal, as long as it's not over-rehearsed. I love it when the actors can rehearse until we feel really comfortable, and then the crew come in and shoot it. I'm not especially a big fan of rehearsing with the crew and the crew rehearsing and, "Let's rehearse this tracking dolly shot 25 times until it's just right." Television has to be shot a certain way to have a certain look. And sometimes the tried-and-true method is the best.