I like looking at all the footage coming back from the surface of Mars, but I could think of nothing more barren and dull than having to live there.

Every child of the 60’s aspired to be an astronaut. Catholicism cleared me of that.
In third grade parochial school, we were still working on penmanship. Being lefty, using those big honking pencils, as I wrote across the page the sheet would rotate. No one ever showed me to steady the sheet with my other hand. So even though I was writing straight, by the time I got to the edge of the paper, the words curved up a couple of lines. I could read it fine, and all I wanted to do was go out and play.

One day, the nun brought me down to the principals office. Every one was terrified of the principal. She was this tiny, shriveled up, decrepit old nun with evil piercing eyes. They set me down in a chair directly in front of her. She had a couple of my papers in her hand, looking over them carefully.

She looked down at me with her sternest look , and in a sarcastic sneer (I did not pick up on) said “ So, do you want to be an astronaut?”. Now, being an adventurous young lad, thought to myself, this is my chance, this is how they choose astronauts, they want me! So I replied to her that yes, I really did want to be an astronaut.

Apparently that was the wrong answer! She angrily began scolding me for several minutes about my penmanship. I left her office completely deflated and unmotivated. Since that day, I never cared about penmanship, or ever wanted to be an astronaut again.

I’m sure, in her mind, she was putting the fear of god in me. In reality, all she did was put the fear of sadistic nuns in me......

An excellent training exercise for would-be astronauts.

I want humans to go to other planets very badly and I don't care where they slept the week before. I just don't want it to be me during the settlement phase.

That situation cured me of cars.

Yes, after seeing the recent movie, First Man,; hurling through space in a metal tub doesn’t look quite as exciting. Good epiphany I’d say