Miles And Miles And Miles.

We Wanted To Be In Great Shape, We Wanted To Be Able To Cope With Zero Gravity, We Wanted To Be Able To Cope With Accelerations And Decelerations And So On. So All Of Us Trained So That We Were Probably In The Best Physical Condition We Had Ever Been In Up Until That Point.

Then There Was The Challenge To Keep Doing Better And Better, To Fly The Best Test Flight That Anybody Had Ever Flown. That Led To My Being Recognized As One Of The More Experienced Test Pilots, And That Led To The Astronaut Business.

The Fact That Every Part Of This Ship Was Built By The Low Bidder.

Later, In The Early Teens, I Used To Ride My Bike Every Saturday Morning To The Nearest Airport, Ten Miles Away, Push Airplanes In And Out Of The Hangars, And Clean Up The Hangars.

I Didn't Mind Studying. Obviously Math And The Physical Science Subjects Interested Me More Than Some Of The More Artistic Subjects, But I Think I Was A Pretty Good Student.