Early success is a terrible teacher. You’re essentially being rewarded for a lack of preparation, so when you find yourself in a situation where you must prepare, you can’t do it. You don’t know how.
Value the wisdom of humility, as well as the sense of perspective it gives you.
Nothing boosts confidence quite like simulating a disaster, engaging with it fully, both physically and intellectually, and realising you have the ability to work the problem.
Almost everything worthwhile carries with it some sort of risk, whether it’s starting a new business, whether it’s leaving home, whether it’s getting married, or whether it’s flying in space.
Russians aren’t perfect. Their politics are messed up, and they keep going through self-defeating economic cycles. But I have a lot of respect for Russia, and a lot of love for Russians.
I’ve put a lot of my life into making it possible to fly in space at all.
When we first get to space, we feel sick. Your body is really confused. You’re dizzy. Your lunch is floating around in your belly because you’re floating. What you see doesn’t match what you feel, and you want to throw up.
There are no wishy-washy astronauts. You don’t get up there by being uncaring and blase. And whatever gave you the sense of tenacity and purpose to get that far in life is absolutely reaffirmed and deepened by the experience itself.
As an astronaut, especially during launch, half of the risk of a six-month flight is in the first nine minutes.
I’ve had a chance to fly a lot of different airplanes, but it was nothing like the shuttle ride.
I’ve had a chance to see something that is way outside everybody else’s frame of reference and gives a perspective that is very different from everyone else’s.
You should have a fear of some things. That doesn’t mean it incapacitates you from your ability to figure out a way to deal with it.
I think there are lots of ways to exercise ambition and accomplish things using leadership without going into elected politics. So, categorically, I have no intention of going into elected politics. None.