- I've always loved math and science. I liked all aspects of it. I was never really good in English or history except for naval history, something that really interests me, but I loved academics in the fields that I enjoyed which I just mentioned. My future in my mind was going to be in flying so in college I picked aerospace engineering to be obviously the closest thing that I could come to being aviation-related and directly applicable to my job in the future. I got a great quality education at the Naval Academy. When I was there the class sizes were small, and I wasn't a natural learner. I can't sit in a class and just take everything in and absorb it or read a book and it all comes in. I need to really understand it and so the Academy was outstanding from the standpoint that the instructors were half military, half civilian and that every one of them wanted you to succeed.
- Test Pilot School I considered a school in and of itself as far as higher education. You just don't walk away with a degree from them, but it's almost like a trade school to a degree but in a highly technical nature.
- I loved flying Harriers. And to take it the next step further, start looking at the cutting-edge technologies of the next generation vehicle, looking at what is now the F-35. I got to work that program in its infancy. I got to really do the innovative things or be on the forefront of where we are in technology and aviation and then, in going that path, I just so happened to be checking all the blocks of becoming an astronaut and it's a chance in a million. You never know. We had one of the, I think it was a current astronaut at the time, come and talk to the whole Patuxent River area, all the test pilots that were in attendance at this forum and basically trying to recruit to a degree which seems kind of ironic. Just say, "Hey, if you have the least inclination or any kind of desire to become an astronaut, nobody's going to come knocking on your door and grab you. You have to apply. You have to be actively involved in it." And I understood that. In fact, I had tried applying before I even went to Test Pilot School just to get my name in the hat and start along that path 'cause just becoming an astronaut in my mind was the epitome of where you could go in aviation and that's where I wanted to end up, just take it as far as I could. I was born and raised watching Star Trek and I Dream of Jeannie. I'd always see the big sci-fi type shows or even just with humor, but something that I always aspired to but just never thought I could attain.
- There's thousands of applicants and they have to wade through all these different applications and individuals. Obviously there's an actual person behind every application but it's hard to highlight yourself or make yourself look good. I'm not sure how I was lucky, how I got the nod, how I actually got picked up. I'll never argue it. I'll just be glad that I got here ... You got to put in a hundred and ten percent. You got to work hard. ... I was blessed with luck, timing and having all the requirements fulfilled to be able to become an astronaut some day.
- You never know when you are going to come in line or when your number comes up and there's a lot of factors that go into selection and they're too complicated to even worry about so you hope your time has come and you work for that time but in the meantime that the jobs you're doing and some of them are like Capsule Communicator where you're in direct support of current missions and making sure their missions are going right, is very enjoyable. It's enjoyable to see your friends go and the smile on their face they get and the stories they can tell afterwards and you just kind of like wait your turn. You know it's coming. You don't know when and it's always a shock and surprise when you get called in the office and it's a real happy moment.
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