I Just Wanted To Be The First

Of Course I Was Delighted The Flight Was Over, But I Still Had To Worry About Cleaning Up Inside The Cabin, I Had To Worry About The Hatch, How To Get In The Sling, And So On.

The Excitement Really Didn't Start To Build Until The Trailer - Which Was Carrying Me, With A Space Suit With Ventilation And All That Sort Of Stuff - Pulled Up To The Launch Pad.

We Had Some Adverse Conditions In The '60s, In The '70s And The '80s. The Agency Has Risen Above That In The Past And Will Rise Above That Again.

We Also Knew It Would Be Difficult, Because Of The Financial Condition Of The Family, For Me To Go To College.

I Think All Of Us Certainly Believed The Statistics Which Said That Probably 88% Chance Of Mission Success And Maybe 96% Chance Of Survival. And We Were Willing To Take Those Odds.