Way back in 1999, a member of a BBS I also belong to, told us the crew of STS 93 would be in Paris at the Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris and I thought it was a good opportunity to meet them. Eileen Collins, Jeff Ashby, Cady Coleman and Michel Tognini would be there.
So, I got to meet them in october 99 (and several NASA managers like former astronaut Jeffrey Hoffman ).
I also befriended a person who would become responsible for the Bourget astronautics museum and he later allowed me to meet even more astronauts. We keep in touch through the internet.
I had my digital Sony Mavica and a Sony camcorder and I asked a few questions. (I felt a little annoyed NASA was considering flying an all female crew; that was abandoned a few weeks later); I aksed her if she wasn't a little envious about the mission specialists who are the ones performing spacewalks, while pilots and commanders were not. She told us that she indeed first applied for the MS job but NASA felt she would be better as a shuttle pilot and she complied. That also meant she had to wait an unusual long time before her first flight. But she eventually got it and her third flight would be the one she'd command and after that flight, she was invited to Paris. Cady also said that astronauts consider themselves extremely fortunate to be selected, far more than wanting a specific job as an astronaut.
Another interesting thing about those events is that later, while Eileen was interviewed separately, the other astronauts were available to chat with the people. I got my few minutes with Cady (and her husband) (it darn helps to be fluent in english) and we had a laugh talking about the effects of washing hair in 0G (there's a known video of her washing her hair in the mid-deck).
Well, after the event, outside, I turned my back one last time to take a picture and here they are (the guy tuning his back is Jean-Pierre Bibring who's an astrophysicist specialized in Mars):

Without the internet, none of this would have been possible!

Raoul