The pressure suit helps if something goes wrong during launch or re-entry - astronauts have a way to parachute off the shuttle. The suits protect you from loss of pressure in case of emergency.

So most astronauts getting ready to lift off are excited and very anxious and worried about that explosion - because if something goes wrong in the first seconds of launch, there's not very much you can do.

On a standard space shuttle crew, two of the astronauts have a test pilot background - the commander and the pilot.

No, I think most astronauts recognize that the space shuttle program is very high-risk, and are prepared for accidents.

After the Challenger accident, NASA put in a lot of time to improve the safety of the space shuttle to fix the things that had gone wrong.

The space shuttle is a better and safer rocket than it was before the Challenger accident.