“Just because I'm a woman does not mean I have to deal with everything ...” — Helen Sharman Quote

Just because I'm a woman does not mean I have to deal with everything to do with food.

During launch, the outside of the rocket is covered in a protective fairing, so we couldn't see outside, but as soon as that was jettisoned, my first view of the earth was over the Pacific Ocean, which was this wonderful deep blue, with clouds just over the top, and sunlight streaming in through the window.

It's very exciting that people could actually live on another planet.

From space, the earth appears predominantly blue; the clouds are brilliant white. Surprisingly, you don't see much green, although Ireland looks green, and so do Scandinavia and New Zealand. The deserts are brick red and really stand out.

If I agree to dispose of any part of our land to the white people I would feel guilty of taking food away from our children's mouths, and I do not wish to be that mean.

It's difficult to believe that people are still starving in this country because food isn't available.

Real men will eat anything I mean anything. I think the only food I have ever turned down was a boiled goat's head while hitch-hiking in Yugoslavia in the 1980s.

I always have this image of a woman running across a desert carrying children, trying to find water and food, not knowing when they'll get that. And her feet are slashed up from the dry, hard earth... Even when I'm uncomfortable, sometimes in pain, or just cold... I think, 'Thank God for what I've got.'