In the 19th Century people were looking for the Northwest Passage. Ships were lost and brave people were killed, but that doesn't mean we never went back to that part of the world again, and I consider it the same in space exploration.

If I wasn't doing this kind of exploration, I'd like to be doing some other kind of exploration. It might be more risky, or less risky, but, in the business of exploration, risk is part of the territory.

It so happened that my goals kind of matched my career progression toward becoming an astronaut.

I never made a career decision based solely on my desire to be an astronaut. I attended the Naval Academy because I wanted to be a Navy pilot. I majored in math because math had always come pretty easily to me and I liked it.

Think about how many dreams die with people - if you don't believe in yourself, whatever you're doing is for no reason.

When I struggled with a depressive episode in 2013, I realized that I had a glitch in my thinking about my own motivation. I had separated learning and teaching into different concepts.

Like, you can find your dream, if you firmly believe. You have to have the innocence, and you have to have the daringness to trust.

The book is there for inspiration and as a foundation, the fundamentals on which to build.