But when I wasn't working, I was usually at a window looking down at Earth.
Sally RideRead
I did not come to NASA to make history.
Interpretation
Sally Ride emphasizes that her motivations were not centered on fame but on her passion for space exploration and science.
In this quote, Sally Ride expresses her intention for joining NASA and contributing to space exploration not as a means to gain recognition or make history, but rather out of a genuine desire to pursue her interests in science and discovery. It highlights the importance of intrinsic motivations and the pursuit of knowledge over external accolades.
In practice
During a speech at a scientific conference.
But when I wasn't working, I was usually at a window looking down at Earth.
When the space shuttle's engines cut off, and you're finally in space, in orbit, weightless... I remember unstrapping from my seat, floating over to the window, and that's when I got my first view of Earth. Just a spectacular view, and a chance to see our planet as a planet.
All adventures, especially into new territory, are scary.
Yes, I did feel a special responsibility to be the first American woman in space.
Even though NASA tries to simulate launch, and we practice in simulators, it's not the same - it's not even close to the same.
If we want scientists and engineers in the future, we should be cultivating the girls as much as the boys.
What works most effectively for quelling disease outbreaks like Ebola is not quarantining huge populations. What works is focusing on and isolating the sick and those in direct contact with them as they are at highest risk of infection. This strategy worked with SARS, and it worked during the H1N1 flu pandemic.
And what I wanted to do was, I wanted to explore problems and areas where we didn't have answers. In fact, where we didn't even know the right questions to ask.
The stress response is incredibly ancient evolutionarily. Fish, birds and reptiles secrete the same stress hormones we do, yet their metabolism doesn't get messed up the way it does in people and other primates.
There is no science in this world like physics. Nothing comes close to the precision with which physics enables you to understand the world around you. It's the laws of physics that allow us to say exactly what time the sun is going to rise. What time the eclipse is going to begin. What time the eclipse is going to end.
We wouldn't think of going to our doctor and saying 'Treat me the way doctors treated people in the 19th Century', and yet that's what we're demanding in food production.
The cloning of humans is on most of the lists of things to worry about from Science, along with behaviour control, genetic engineering, transplanted heads, computer poetry and the unrestrained growth of plastic flowers.
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