“I remember looking at the moon as an 8-year-old and marveling that the...” — Leroy Chiao Quote

“I remember looking at the moon as an 8-year-old and marveling that there were two astronauts in a lander on the surface, getting ready to go out and actually walk. That settled it for me: I knew I was going to at least try to become an astronaut. I wanted to be like those guys.”

“I hope that China will continue with space exploration. It would be logical to have international co-operation. I hope that it will come about and that I can be involved in it.”

“When I was at NASA, I had a house on a small private airstrip that we shared between the flying community. I had a hangar in my backyard with my airplane in it so I could just fly from my home.”

“I loved flying as much as I thought I would and continue to fly aircraft.”

“I don't think anyone flies into space without some form of fundamental introspection about what life is about.”

“There were different challenges along the way. Certainly the food shortage was unpleasant.”

“There is no one area of chemical engineering that specifically helped me in my career as an astronaut, it was more the general education in engineering. Also, it was a very difficult and rigorous course. So, it made me strong and resourceful.”

“Before I settled on music, I wanted to be an archaeologist, an astronaut, all sorts of really diverse things.”

“In the Astronaut Office we're never totally out of training, we always keep our hand in it. But after five years, things have changed and so it's been good to get back into the flow and relearn a lot of things.”

“I didn't really decide that I wanted to be an astronaut for sure until the end of college.”

“The basic thing you have to understand is everything that happens on that spaceship, from the time you crawl into that seat to the time it touches down, is controlled from the ground. There's no one thing that makes a good astronaut. I don't know any person with determination and will that can't go to space.”