Kalpana Chawla

In summers, while growing up in India, we often slept in the courtyard under the stars.

You are just your intelligence.

I stopped thinking about it after trying to figure out what are the lessons learned, and there are so many. After I had basically sorted that out, I figured it's time to really look at the future and not at the past.

The journey matters as much as the goal.

Some of the senior people, the very senior astronauts, shook my hand and said, 'K.C., you did a great job. Don't let anyone tell you different.'

Do something because you really want to do it. If you're doing it just for the goal and don't enjoy the path, then I think you're cheating yourself.

I have felt that connection and stewardship for Earth for as long as I can remember. And not just for Earth, but the whole universe.

We gazed dreamily at the Milky Way and once in a while caught some shooting stars. Times like those gave me the opportunity to wonder and ask all those very basic questions. That sense of awe for the heavens started there.

The first view of the Earth is magical. It is a very overpowering realization that the Earth is so small. It affected me. I could not get over the notion that in such a small planet, with such a small ribbon of life, so much goes on. It is as if the whole place is sacred.

I was interested in aerospace and flying, and the U.S. is really the best place in the world for flying.

Material interests are not the only guiding light.

It's easy for me to be motivated and inspired by seeing somebody who just goes all out to do something.