Music.
JOAN HIGGINBOTHAM: I'm NASA astronaut Joan Higginbotham.
As a student, did you focus on science?
I always loved math and science, and I love kind of electronics.
I used to always putz around with the different things at home,
much to my parents' chagrin. So I guess without knowing it,
I really was kind of drawn to both of those subjects.
What were your ambitions growing up?
My thing was just, I wanted to become an electrical engineer and be just really good at my job,
and for people to think I'm very competent.
What brought you to NASA?
It was a fluke. I actually was going to work for IBM after college. I worked for them for several summers and,
unfortunately, they were not hiring engineers at the time. And long story short,
I got a call in my dorm room one night from a division chief here who had seen my
resume and thought I would be a good match, and offered me a choice of two positions in his division.
Who inspired you?
My biggest inspiration is from my family members. I have an incredible mom and dad and siblings who are very supportive,
and they were always an inspiration to me because they always encouraged me to do my best.
What's your most vivid spaceflight memory?
Probably my first sunrise. I was up in the commander's seat, matter of fact,
he had ordered me to come to the flight deck because my head had been in
Spacehab for a day and a half, and told me to sit down and look out the window and it was just the beginning of a sunrise.
And you just see the curvature of the Earth, and then you could see the sun just bursting forth and it was just a beautiful sight.
I was just enamored for a very long time.
Describe working with the robotic arms in space.
It was probably one of my tensest moments when I was up there,
because you have this huge piece of equipment on this
70-foot-long arm and it's worth billions of dollars.
And the only thing you're thinking in your mind is, don't let me hit anything.
And when we didn't have a payload on the end of it, we actually had one of the crew members,
and again, you have a precious life on the end of the arm,
so you're just tense the entire time and just very, very focused about what you're doing.
What's the best aspect about being an astronaut?
The best aspect is probably getting to meet a lot of different people and getting to go a lot of different places.
I've met incredible people, not only in the astronaut corps but just all over the world,
and that's probably one of the neatest things we get to do.
What misconceptions do people have about spaceflight?
I think everybody sees it as this great big, like, Disney World ride for us and it's this wonderful vacation,
and they really tend to forget that we are actually working really hard.
I mean, from the time we get up there and unstrap, to the time we come back,
we are just moving at a pretty good clip.
What do you like to do in your free time?
Shop. Shop. Work out, hang out with my girlfriends.
Try to spend time with my family as much as possible. Just do very human,very normal things.
If you weren't working for NASA, what job might you be doing?
I don't know. I've been in this career for 20 years now,
and it's pretty much been the only career I've been in. Short of becoming the NFL commissioner,
I'm not really sure what other pathway I would take for my career.