Astronaut Abby Harrison: 'I want to be first to Mars'

Yes, I met Luca when I was 13 years old and I was in an airport, coming back from a shuttle launch I had gone to watch and he was just so inspirational, and that definitely helped to bolster my goals and dreams.

So I want to talk about the--your aspiration about where you want to be to. But I'm also interested in what you're blogging, because you're also talking a lot about, you know, you're blogging about science and mathematics and technology aren't you?

Yeah. That's true, I am.  My blog mostly centers around space and things that I'm doing in space and science. Currently, all the different events and things I'm at. Like, I'm currently blogging about, um, being in Moscow and going to Kazakhstan to watch the Soyuz launch. But I, I--I write about everything I'm doing that involves space and science and math, in order to share these experiences that I'm having with, um, people everywhere.

How difficult do you find  the subject? Because some of the concepts involved, you know, must be very stretching intellectually.

Um I find these subjects--I think they definitely are difficult, and the older I get and the deeper I delve into subjects such as, uh, science, uh physics, math, those types of subjects, they definitely get harder. But what's more important than the intensity of the subject is how much interest you have in it, and I have a high amount of interest, which makes the hard work necessary to understand it, um, important.

Okay, you are an extraordinarily self-possessed, self-confident, clearly hugely able and driven young woman. What is the dream? When do you think you might get into space?

Um, my dream is to be an astronaut, and even more than that, I want to be the first astronaut to Mars. I have set a goal of, uh, 2030 as the date that I go to Mars. Um, But I'm hoping, of course, that I would go to space prior to that, uh, to get experience. It wouldn't be for another, pro--probably ten or more years, just based on age and the amount of college and education that I'd have to do in order to get there.

Source: bbc.co.uk