Duane G. Carey

“One of the jokes on our flight is that, if we have a normal entry day going, the plan is for me... to actually take the orbiter first and fly it for maybe 10 or 15 seconds and then hand it on over to Scooter.”

“You know, Scooter's going to do the first separation burn; I'm going to do the second separation burn.”

“I'm looking forward to coming back, back to Earth, the landing, the views.”

“I see it as one of my jobs to make sure that, it sounds ridiculous, but to make sure the folks are eating, make sure folks are getting enough fluids, make sure folks are, you know, comfortable in the orbiter.”

“So, I decided that whatever I was, wanted to do with my life, it would have to do, it would have to have something to do with the exploration and doing new things.”

“I had, before I went to college, I had taken a few years off after high school and really had, I guess in those days, I had no intentions of going to college.”

“So, whenever Scooter was the Pilot, he never had a chance to fly the orbiter. So, the joke is: I'm going to have a chance to fly it first and hand it over to him.”

“And, one thing I definitely enjoyed personally, from a selfish point of view, was exploration and going to places that I had never been to before and learning, you know, meeting the people and getting to know, new sights and sounds, etc.”

“Those folks out in the space suits are going to be getting beat up.”

“You know, piloting really isn't my hobby. And, it's probably not something I'd do in my spare time if I could do whatever I wanted to do. But, I'll tell you: if you've got to make a living, it's a great way to make a living!”

“Well, for me it really wasn't a case of deciding to be an astronaut.”

“Because when we're in space, my job is primarily getting us there and getting us back.”

“And, obviously as a, as one who likes to travel around myself a lot, I think the Earth is a beautiful place. And, I'm looking forward to some new perspectives.”

“Now, I've never flown in space; but the folks who have say that on landing day, you know, you've just spent maybe a week and a half, sometimes two weeks in orbit and you're used to the things happening slowly in space.”

“I consider myself to be very fortunate in my career, my timing has worked out.”

“Being in space, I'm really looking forward to working with this team of folks that I'm with.”

“And, all these things need to be coordinated; so we all need to work together, have timers going and everything so we're all coordinated and get this piece of orchestration done.”

“And, actually it was interesting because I had done a lot of traveling in the United States and Canada and Mexico on my motorcycle; and I was really, it was the first time I had really gotten out of the Minnesota area to speak of.”

“And, I wouldn't consider myself to be a natural pilot; I've had to work at it.”

“There's been a tremendous amount of work that's been done that you can't see in Columbia.”