Duane G. Carey Quotes

And, I was really impressed with how beautiful our country was and how friendly the people were.

You know, piloting really isn't my hobby. And, it's probably not something I'd do in my spare time if I could do whatever I wanted to do. But, I'll tell you: if you've got to make a living, it's a great way to make a living!

I worked for some very good people who have helped me along the way and actually enabled me to have the opportunity to be selected to join the Astronaut Corps.

Because when we're in space, my job is primarily getting us there and getting us back.

That's what Hubble can do for us. It can tell us whether the universe is expanding forever or if one day it's going to come back together.

So, I decided that whatever I was, wanted to do with my life, it would have to do, it would have to have something to do with the exploration and doing new things.

And, one thing I definitely enjoyed personally, from a selfish point of view, was exploration and going to places that I had never been to before and learning, you know, meeting the people and getting to know, new sights and sounds, etc.

Well, for me it really wasn't a case of deciding to be an astronaut.

I could do exploration in this particular career field, and it was a goal that, even if I didn't reach it, it was so high it seemed almost impossible, but even if I didn't reach it, I would still have a good time and a very satisfying career.

Now, I've never flown in space; but the folks who have say that on landing day, you know, you've just spent maybe a week and a half, sometimes two weeks in orbit and you're used to the things happening slowly in space.

There's been a tremendous amount of work that's been done that you can't see in Columbia.

So, whenever Scooter was the Pilot, he never had a chance to fly the orbiter. So, the joke is: I'm going to have a chance to fly it first and hand it over to him.

I see it as one of my jobs to make sure that, it sounds ridiculous, but to make sure the folks are eating, make sure folks are getting enough fluids, make sure folks are, you know, comfortable in the orbiter.

Now you're coming back to Earth, and things are getting more and more dynamic.

So, we have to get up and get pumped up for each day.

One of the jokes on our flight is that, if we have a normal entry day going, the plan is for me ... to actually take the orbiter first and fly it for maybe 10 or 15 seconds and then hand it on over to Scooter.

Rendezvous day is the third day of our mission, and that's a big day for us.

And, I wouldn't consider myself to be a natural pilot; I've had to work at it.