In Buzz Aldrin's novel Encounter With Tiber you are thanked in the acknowledgments for providing an example of astronaut dedication. What keeps you so dedicated to the program?

I believe in intellectual frontiers. I believe in physical frontiers. I do believe in spaceflight. I believe that the kinds of points of view, the kinds of things we discover during spaceflight are very important to humanity because it helps us to discover what it means to be human and what our place in this universe is.

I think that the kinds of scales that we are brought to, it causes us to focus on the larger, bigger issues. It tends to carry us away to the larger levels, away from the regional disputes or tribalistic things. It raises humanity's level to the bigger issues.