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[i]...in the ten years, I was selected as an astronaut, and ten years stretches out to twenty-two. I always felt like a little boy who had been sent by his mother to the store to get the eggs, but I was off chasing fire engines. I was having a ball, but sooner or later I was going to have to go back to the store and get the eggs. So when we flew, [I made my decision.] It takes several months to go through [all the] debriefing, and I thought, "I am to the point in my life where if I'm ever going to shift into academia, I better do it now, or I will end up as a NASA manager for the rest of my life." [Now] that's an easy decision to make. So as soon as we essentially finished the debriefing, I put in a resignation. As I recall, I signed it on the twelfth of November '85 to go into effect the first of July '86, so I could start teaching the fall of '86. I was going to spend [the intervening] time choosing the university to go to. Well, right after that we had the problems [of the STS 51-L, Challenger accident]. A number of [astronauts] said to me, "Oh, man, I wish I had done what you did, but if I resign now, it's going to look like cowardice." So I was the first one to leave the program after the big accident, but I had already done the paperwork much [earlier].[/i]
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