I cannot believe I became some kind of hero. I'm just a common Korean woman.

Only in space did I realize how lucky I am to be Korean. Only in Korea could I have gone to space before turning 30 years old.

California is an easy place to be an Asian woman engineer.

They gave me 18 experiments to complete in my 10 days in the ISS. That's a lot. Everyone told me I didn't have to complete all of them, that it wasn't expected of me. But I knew everyone was watching me, so I gave up meals and sleep and completed all 18 experiments. It's a very Korean thing to do.

I will do my best to support science in Korea and space programs in Korea.

There is something addictive in space that makes you want to go back - like the mountain climbers who want to go back to the Himalayas although their fingers were cut by frostbite.