I was inspired to become an astronaut after watching the Apollo 11 moon landing as an eight-year-old kid. We need to get kids interested in space and in science and math in general.

I actually wanted to be an astronaut more than an astronomer for a quite a long time. Then I learned this would require I somehow become a US citizen (at the time Brits could not be ESA Astronauts because of the UK’s refusal to fund the human spaceflight part of ESA – although this has recently changed), and I also discovered how much detail I would be required to know about the space shuttle and just how fit I would have to be. I’m not really a detail oriented person, and I’m not that keen on the gym, so I gently switched my goal to becoming an astronomer! This also has the advantage of letting me keep my feet on the ground!

Whenever I came across something that influenced me, I wanted to be that. So it varied from an astronaut, airhostess, army girl, to truck driver. Once, I wanted to be a nun - my mother wanted me to change schools after that...

No way that any astronaut worth his salt volunteered for the space program to become a hero. You don't select astronauts who want fame and fortune. You select them because they're the best test pilots in the world, they know it, and it's a personal challenge for them. And the astronauts of today are exactly the same.

I grew up, indeed, in West Macedonia. This is in Greece. And I was a terror of a child because I was taking apart everything, just like all engineers and physicists and inventors. I come from a family that they're more artists, designers, and military people rather than scientists. So that was a surprise to my parents, that I was very determined to follow a scientific path in any way, form, or shape, or an engineering path. Initially, I really wanted to be an astronaut, like if you are in West Macedonia, what else would you want to be? An astronaut.

I volunteered for a number of reasons. One of these, quite frankly, was that I thought this was a chance for immortality. Pioneering in space was something I would willingly give my life for.

I had always wanted to be an ambassador and a pilot. When I finally started flying, I didn’t want to be anything close to being a pilot.

I decided to dedicate my life to science during my childhood.

You know what? I’m going to fly,” she said, “and that’s what motivated me my entire life, that idea I had as a young child.

Once upon a time, we soared into the Solar System. For a few years. Then we hurried back. Why? What happened? What was 'Apollo' really about?

Mas quando anunciei que queria ser astrônomo, recebi apoio incondicional — mesmo que eles (como eu) só tivessem uma idéia muito rudimentar da profissão de astrônomo. Nunca sugeriram que, consideradas as circunstâncias, talvez fosse melhor eu ser médico ou advogado.

For most of my life I thought about science and its application to leaving people better off, so I wanted to be a scientist and do something that would help people.

I was born to become a star.

It started with math. When I was a kid, I just gravitated toward math. I would do problem sets all the time and then eventually did Olympiads and I loved doing that. It was such a passion.