I don't feel like a hero - just another person involved in the space business. I'm hoping to encourage young folks to become explorers.
There is a distinct layer between the Earth and the universe, which is extremely black. Slowly, the entire universe starts to look 3D, like you can fly through it rather than this sphere of blackness overhead. And when you're above the atmosphere, there isn't water vapour in the air to make things foggy.
We certainly would not be here, living and working on the International Space Station without the commitment and dedication of all the folks who worked the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo Programs as well as the Russian Space Program.
You can hover in the air if you want, or you can push off of something and glide through the air - just like a fish. I also think it is like being a fish, since you can catch food in your mouth easily because it is suspended in the air - just like when you put fish food in a tank - the fish swim up to it, open their mouths, and eat the food.
When I go skiing in New England, I usually wake up early and drive up to Vermont, New Hampshire, or Maine to make it in time for chairlift opening. That means leaving early and getting breakfast at one of the little quaint diners up in the mountains.
Becoming an astronaut was a little bit of happenstance for me.
I flew helicopters, which actually is the second best view of the earth. The first best view is, I think, a little bit higher.
We take things to remind us of home. I think my favourite is a stuffed dog that was homemade from a picture of my little Jack Russell terrier.
Planets look about the same here as they do to you on the Earth because we really aren't that much closer. Our home, the International Space Station, orbits around the Earth at about 200 miles.
The International Space Station is a great place to live for a year.
It's - I mean, the Olympics, what is it? It's an international competition to foster friendship and - and competition across - across the planet, and I think that's exactly what the International Space Station is.
The main goal of the International Space Station is to work on peaceful projects. In space, we're all people from Earth.
Six months away from family and friends is a long time. Emotionally, you go through some ups and downs. Life changes on the ground, and you have to ready for that. Life changes for you up here as well.
You don't see any borders between countries from space. That's man-made, and one experiences it only when you return to Earth.
I sometimes think this is just my life: I go to mow the lawn and sometimes go to space. But when other people say what you've done is really impactful, that's really humbling.
In order to 'go out the door' safely, we go through a pretty thorough process called pre-breathe. This is the process of flushing all the nitrogen out of our systems by breathing higher concentrations of oxygen.
When I went to Test Pilot School, that's when we came to Johnson Space Center. And I ended up seeing John Young and listening to him talk and getting a positive influence from him.
It's just this beautiful laboratory in space, and it's doing a lot of really cool things. So being up there and just being able to fly through that big station one more time and do some experiments while you're up there and get that view out of the cupola... priceless.
I love anything paneer! Our family favorite, however, is 'Dal Dhokli,' a quintessential Gujarati dish of bread dumplings and lentil soup. That's the big meal of the week typically prepared by my mother on Sundays.
The feel of space... Some folks have asked what it is like to work out in space. Yes, you can work upside down, right side up, sideways - anyway you want to to make it convenient.