The rows of an orthogonal matrix form an orthonormal basis 
A matrix $A \in \operatorname{Mat}(n \times n, \Bbb R)$ is said to be orthogonal if its columns are orthonormal relative to the dot product on $\Bbb R^n$. 
  
  
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*By considering $A^TA$, show that $A$ is an orthogonal matrix if and only if $A^T = A^{−1}$.
  
*Deduce that the rows of any $n × n$ orthogonal matrix $A$ form an orthonormal basis for the space of $n$-component row vectors over $\Bbb R$.
  

I am trying to do part 2.
What I tried is that since we figured out that $A^T = A^{-1}$, and the inverse of $A$ is the left product of elementary matrices to $A$, the row space of $A^TA =$ row space of $A$.
Also, since $A^TA = I$, a basis of the row space of $A$ is a basis of the row space of $I$. Since the columns of $I$ are the standard basis of $\Bbb R^n$ $(e_1, ..., e_n)$, and are orthonormal to each other, they form an orthonormal basis of $\Bbb R^n$. 
Something tells me this proof is wrong. Could someone give me some guidance?

We are given this definition: matrix $A \in \mathbb{R}^{n \times n}$ is "orthogonal" if and only if its columns are orthonormal.
We want to show that the rows of $A$ form an orthonormal basis for $\mathbb{R}^n$ (technically an orthonormal basis for $V=$"the space of $n$-component row vectors over $\mathbb{R}$", but there is clearly an isomorphism $T:V \to \mathbb{R}^n$ defined by $T(v)=v^T \in \mathbb{R}^n$ such that both $T$ and $T^{-1}$ preserve orthonormality).
We can equivalently show that the columns of $A^T$ are orthonormal, noting that $n$ orthonormal vectors form a basis for $\mathbb{R}^n$. By the definition given, this means we must show that $A^T$ is an orthogonal matrix.
David Wheeler's answer illustrates that $A^T$ is an orthogonal matrix iff $(A^T)^{-1}=(A^T)^T$, and egreg's answer completes the proof.
So $A\in \mathbb{R}^{n \times n}$ is orthogonal iff its rows are orthonormal.
