Peggy Whitson

Gravity always sucks. It really, really does. It's a big challenge just re-adapting to feeling heavy again, you know? Even my arm feels heavy. My legs feel heavy.

Zero gravity is such an alien environment - completely different from everything we've grown up with every single day of our lives. And it's incomprehensible how much better it was than I anticipated it would be.

I started out as a farm girl in Iowa, and I dreamed of being an astronaut and an explorer. And I made it.

I learned to not be afraid to fix things that break.

I have been blessed with some really special crewmates. Being able to be a really integral member of the team, no matter what role I was in, was truly special.

We are absolutely ready to go to Mars. It's going to be a fantastic journey getting there and very exciting times.

I was inspired by the men who walked on the moon. It really was my inspiration, I think, you know, as a kid of 9 years old - I know I'm dating myself, but - I thought, 'What a cool job!'

I love working at NASA, but the part that has been the most satisfying on a day-to-day basis, hour-to-hour, minute-to-minute, has been working on board the space station. Even if I'm just cleaning the vents in the fans, it all is important.

Find your passion. Because with that passion, you can do anything.

I love Italian, Mexican, Thai. Something spicy.

I would love to set foot on another planet - lunar or Mars or somewhere.

My undergraduate, I double-majored in biology and chemistry. Biology was kind of my love.