I am NASA astronaut Cady Coleman.
What inspired you to become an astronaut?
When I was growing up, I was born in 1960, and this was at a time when girls did these things.
And it really didn't occur to me that this could be something I could be apart of until
Dr. Sally Ride came and talked at my college. I saw her and I thought, wow, I want that job.
What would you be doing now if you were not an astronaut?
I'd like to think that I would be involved in something in education.
You know, making sure that other, you know, young girls understand, not that they can all be astronauts,
not all of them can, but that anything that they want to do is within their grasp.
That they're smart enough; that they are smart enough at math and science and engineering.
I like being part of enabling those future generations. So I'd like to think I'd be involved in education.
What are your most vivid memories from your two shuttle missions?
It's a funny thing. But when you go to space, it's so amazing to be there
and it's just a completely overwhelming experience. But then when you come home, all you have is the pictures and the movies.
And some other astronauts had told me about this and said you know when you go up Cady,
you have to make sure that you just capture a few moments. That you just say,
I am going to think about this and I am going to remember that this is where I was and this is what I was doing.
So I have just memories and feelings of looking out the window and seeing different places on the Earth.
And also just kind of closing my eyes and floating in a weightless environment, which is just amazing and fun.
What differences are there between space shuttle and space station missions?
Being on a shuttle mission is like, you know, you're part of a family. And a family comes together.
And a family is going to go on a trip. And they're going to go together, and they're going to pack together,
and they're all going to make sure they know what they're going to do. Everything is very, very together.
And it's for this finite amount of time, anywhere from five to 15, 16, 17 days.
A station mission is a longer haul. And you'd like to think you know who you're going to go with,
but a lot of things can change and those people can change. Really, when I'm spending this time,
these couple of years getting ready for station, what I'm doing is I'm learning all the space station systems,
both on the U.S. side, the Russian ones, the Japanese ones, the European ones.
I'm learning experiments. So I'm learning lots of things, but I'm also learning to learn about my fellow crew mates,
whoever they are, and to try to learn more about them and to let them surprise me.
How different is the training for your upcoming space station mission?
One of the major differences between a shuttle mission and a station mission,
is that the shuttle is short and it is your job as a crew member of a shuttle mission to know
every single thing that you're going to do; you know it cold, backwards, forwards and
actually you probably know somebody else's job as well,
because we try to make sure that two people are always ready to back each other up.
And you're going to know everything well. Now on a space station, you can't possibly do that.
You cannot remember everything that people have told you during your training; it's just not humanly possible.
So you have to be able to read the procedures and then do the right thing.