The Astronaut Teacher | Mike Mongo

WEBVTT

1
00:00:00.391 --> 00:00:05.133
The challenges that we face on Earth are energy, health, sustainability.

2
00:00:06.013 --> 00:00:12.156
There is what Cyan calls justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion, which is Jedi.

3
00:00:12.676 --> 00:00:20.099
Making these things part of what we receive from solving for space makes space have value for everyone.

4
00:00:20.719 --> 00:00:22.160
Welcome to A Heart for Space.

5
00:00:22.840 --> 00:00:24.561
I am your host, Dr. Imojohungur.

6
00:00:25.301 --> 00:00:32.570
Join me as we uncover what it takes to reach beyond the limits of what we think is possible and turn the biggest dreams into tangible reality.

7
00:00:37.202 --> 00:00:43.184
So in 2009, you were part of that astronaut class applicant set with Cyan Proctor.

8
00:00:43.664 --> 00:00:47.206
I was unaware of this, even though I'd known Cyan since 2013.

9
00:00:47.326 --> 00:00:47.826
Yeah.

10
00:00:48.586 --> 00:00:52.548
And her story is so dense that it takes a while to unfold.

11
00:00:52.988 --> 00:00:58.890
And there's so many individuals like yourself, powerful figures that show up consistently all the way through the narrative.

12
00:00:59.270 --> 00:00:59.491
Yeah.

13
00:00:59.671 --> 00:01:00.971
And then...

14
00:01:03.550 --> 00:01:18.459
When you and I really became familiar with one another was when, was before you went to space, of course, and it was, there was Cyan's launch in 2021, but then there was the uplift aerospace application process.

15
00:01:19.379 --> 00:01:42.938
for the web three crew in and you're a web you're you're one of the web three astronauts you went with moondow correct so yeah yeah and and then uh you and i applied for that same seat and that's when i became more familiar with you and your work yeah and i've been grateful ever since you know it's nice to be close uh close friends and colleagues with you now

16
00:01:43.993 --> 00:01:46.459
As you were growing up, I want to know what kind of kid were you?

17
00:01:46.579 --> 00:01:52.973
Because I know what kind of an adult you are, and I have an idea of what kind of father you are, but what were you like growing up?

18
00:01:54.861 --> 00:01:57.683
So me and you have had these kinds of conversations before, right?

19
00:01:57.923 --> 00:02:05.067
And, uh, it's cool to share this information with other people because the thing that I led off with was how I just started as an astronaut teacher.

20
00:02:05.087 --> 00:02:07.028
I just declared myself to be an astronaut teacher.

21
00:02:07.488 --> 00:02:08.989
That's not a small detail.

22
00:02:09.189 --> 00:02:10.290
That's an important detail.

23
00:02:10.790 --> 00:02:14.252
And you were a kid who loved space and I was a kid who loved space.

24
00:02:14.852 --> 00:02:19.015
And we were independent of one another, obviously, but.

25
00:02:19.775 --> 00:02:24.919
looking up at the sky, we were taken by what was unfolding around us.

26
00:02:25.219 --> 00:02:27.360
For you, there were missiles.

27
00:02:27.741 --> 00:02:30.863
For me, there was NASA.

28
00:02:31.003 --> 00:02:37.948
In 69, when the first human beings landed on the moon, I was four, right?

29
00:02:37.988 --> 00:02:38.548
Wow, yeah.

30
00:02:38.648 --> 00:02:38.829
And—

31
00:02:41.050 --> 00:02:42.830
I remember all the grownups talking about it.

32
00:02:43.350 --> 00:02:47.091
Well, when I was three, there was this TV show called Batman.

33
00:02:47.111 --> 00:02:48.851
It was like way long time ago.

34
00:02:48.891 --> 00:02:51.052
And it was Goofy with Adam West and Burt Ward.

35
00:02:51.472 --> 00:02:52.652
And it was just a silly show.

36
00:02:53.032 --> 00:02:53.672
I love that show.

37
00:02:53.692 --> 00:02:55.672
I was talking to my wife about that show this week.

38
00:02:56.293 --> 00:02:57.473
I love that show.

39
00:02:58.873 --> 00:03:02.454
And I was a kid and I just thought that was the show.

40
00:03:02.894 --> 00:03:03.174
Yeah.

41
00:03:03.314 --> 00:03:10.255
You know how kids imagine that shows are real life when they're very young?

42
00:03:10.835 --> 00:03:11.095
Yes.

43
00:03:12.696 --> 00:03:14.916
It was, my first word was Batman.

44
00:03:15.436 --> 00:03:15.776
That's awesome.

45
00:03:15.796 --> 00:03:16.497
Like it was Batman.

46
00:03:16.577 --> 00:03:16.777
Right.

47
00:03:16.797 --> 00:03:18.077
This is how I was locked in.

48
00:03:18.897 --> 00:03:22.658
And I just thought that superhero was a career opportunity.

49
00:03:23.098 --> 00:03:23.378
Yeah.

50
00:03:24.219 --> 00:03:25.859
Why not?

51
00:03:26.499 --> 00:03:28.880
And so I was some grown-up.

52
00:03:29.740 --> 00:03:32.101
Grown-ups are a strange creature, being one now.

53
00:03:32.741 --> 00:03:39.823
But in hindsight, at three, one of the grown-ups in my life asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up at three.

54
00:03:40.063 --> 00:03:40.363
Yeah.

55
00:03:41.333 --> 00:03:48.620
because it's been now here in the future, I understand that grownups don't know what to say to people who are children, who are students.

56
00:03:48.900 --> 00:03:49.901
They don't have any idea.

57
00:03:50.221 --> 00:03:53.404
So you would ask a three-year-old, so what do you want to be when you grow up, a tax lawyer?

58
00:03:53.785 --> 00:03:54.465
Yeah.

59
00:03:54.485 --> 00:03:55.286
So what's the plan?

60
00:03:55.587 --> 00:03:57.709
And I said, Batman.

61
00:03:58.229 --> 00:03:59.590
And then the grownup said to me,

62
00:04:00.590 --> 00:04:02.290
There's no such thing as superheroes.

63
00:04:02.770 --> 00:04:03.471
Oh, man.

64
00:04:03.851 --> 00:04:04.451
Well, hold on.

65
00:04:04.571 --> 00:04:04.991
Hold on.

66
00:04:05.471 --> 00:04:09.572
The way my mind worked was this is a broken person.

67
00:04:09.612 --> 00:04:10.872
They don't have any idea.

68
00:04:11.432 --> 00:04:14.473
I watch Batman all the time on television.

69
00:04:14.733 --> 00:04:16.453
Clearly, there are superheroes.

70
00:04:17.054 --> 00:04:19.594
Unfortunately, this person known as informed them.

71
00:04:20.314 --> 00:04:21.095
A year passes.

72
00:04:21.335 --> 00:04:22.735
I have a better grasp of everything.

73
00:04:23.435 --> 00:04:24.776
Human beings go to the moon.

74
00:04:25.016 --> 00:04:27.258
Astronaut becomes a vocabulary word for me.

75
00:04:27.878 --> 00:04:33.162
And I was, one of the, they were asking me what I thought about it.

76
00:04:33.242 --> 00:04:36.284
And I said, is astronaut a real job?

77
00:04:36.524 --> 00:04:37.345
Is a real thing?

78
00:04:37.385 --> 00:04:38.425
And they're like, yeah.

79
00:04:38.465 --> 00:04:40.347
They didn't have any idea where I was coming from.

80
00:04:40.867 --> 00:04:44.009
And they said, yeah, astronaut's a real thing.

81
00:04:44.049 --> 00:04:45.670
I was like, I want to be an astronaut.

82
00:04:46.011 --> 00:04:46.291
Yeah.

83
00:04:46.631 --> 00:04:47.852
That's how that happened.

84
00:04:47.892 --> 00:04:50.774
That weird little alchemy that took place right there.

85
00:04:51.893 --> 00:04:53.734
And, you know, I just kept on going to the future.

86
00:04:54.114 --> 00:05:00.316
I had a full life and it wasn't until I was, uh, it was, uh, I was like 42.

87
00:05:00.736 --> 00:05:01.416
Yeah.

88
00:05:01.436 --> 00:05:02.376
2006, right?

89
00:05:02.837 --> 00:05:03.057
Yeah.

90
00:05:04.537 --> 00:05:06.338
I realized I wasn't going to get to be an astronaut.

91
00:05:07.718 --> 00:05:09.159
I realized that I hadn't been selected.

92
00:05:09.179 --> 00:05:13.740
My background at that point, my big, my big thing in life was graffiti art.

93
00:05:14.160 --> 00:05:14.440
Yeah.

94
00:05:15.000 --> 00:05:17.321
And NASA wasn't choosing graffiti artists to go to space.

95
00:05:17.521 --> 00:05:19.362
No, not yet, but maybe in 10 years.

96
00:05:20.307 --> 00:05:20.888
Yeah, who knows?

97
00:05:20.968 --> 00:05:21.568
It's the future.

98
00:05:21.609 --> 00:05:24.952
So Banksy on the moon.

99
00:05:25.612 --> 00:05:30.617
And so I realized it, this sounds very dumb to share.

100
00:05:30.677 --> 00:05:36.162
I just, I know this, but it was such a devastating idea to me that I wasn't going to get to go to space.

101
00:05:36.202 --> 00:05:36.522
Yeah.

102
00:05:37.343 --> 00:05:40.025
That my knees gave out.

103
00:05:40.346 --> 00:05:41.206
Like I fell.

104
00:05:42.077 --> 00:05:43.739
when I, it really clicked with me.

105
00:05:43.839 --> 00:05:46.342
I'm 41 and I'm not going to get to go to space.

106
00:05:46.562 --> 00:05:52.028
Well, and in 2006, you got to remind people there was no way to go except through NASA or the Roscosmos.

107
00:05:52.529 --> 00:05:52.869
That's right.

108
00:05:54.431 --> 00:05:56.052
There was no, there was no blue origin.

109
00:05:56.073 --> 00:05:58.495
There was no, there was no Virgin Galactic.

110
00:05:58.535 --> 00:05:59.697
There was no SpaceX.

111
00:05:59.797 --> 00:06:00.758
There was no, there was,

112
00:06:02.471 --> 00:06:10.695
So I realized since I wasn't going to get to go, I would give students to make it work for me.

113
00:06:11.215 --> 00:06:14.517
I was working as a marine science researcher in the Florida Keys at that time.

114
00:06:14.857 --> 00:06:16.078
I was having a great experience.

115
00:06:16.398 --> 00:06:22.301
I was running into students who we would have science communication conversations and they would be transformed.

116
00:06:22.761 --> 00:06:22.981
Yeah.

117
00:06:23.021 --> 00:06:23.662
Just because.

118
00:06:23.702 --> 00:06:24.182
That's cool.

119
00:06:24.922 --> 00:06:26.723
The universe is amazing.

120
00:06:27.043 --> 00:06:27.284
Yeah.

121
00:06:27.504 --> 00:06:30.105
It does just ridiculously impossible things.

122
00:06:30.125 --> 00:06:31.706
You know, like, I don't know.

123
00:06:32.745 --> 00:06:33.566
And it's fantastic.

124
00:06:33.606 --> 00:06:34.826
It's a wonderful experience.

125
00:06:34.866 --> 00:06:44.432
And then all of a sudden, we're pursuing a career direction because of zoxanthaly algae embedding itself in Cassiopeia jellyfish or something random.

126
00:06:45.292 --> 00:06:51.736
And I combined the experience of sharing that insight with students with the idea of astronautics.

127
00:06:52.516 --> 00:07:00.803
I compounded the idea into astronaut teacher and just gave myself permission to give students permission to imagine themselves living.

128
00:07:01.204 --> 00:07:06.268
Every student from that point on that I come in, that I happen to meet.

129
00:07:07.469 --> 00:07:09.811
I'm going to let them know that they can live, work and play in space.

130
00:07:10.052 --> 00:07:10.832
That decision.

131
00:07:11.433 --> 00:07:13.415
I celebrate that version of myself, Iman.

132
00:07:14.068 --> 00:07:16.489
And you keep saying you've given them permission.

133
00:07:16.509 --> 00:07:22.891
You know, your goal, you've stated, is to make sure every student you connect with understands that, one, tomorrow's jobs are in space.

134
00:07:23.431 --> 00:07:26.652
And then, two, that they now have permission to live, work, and play in space.

135
00:07:26.672 --> 00:07:27.232
And I love that.

136
00:07:27.252 --> 00:07:31.153
But why do you use the word permission and why is that so important?

137
00:07:31.173 --> 00:07:32.634
What do you think that means to kids?

138
00:07:32.654 --> 00:07:33.974
No one gave me permission when I was then.

139
00:07:34.535 --> 00:07:34.835
Yeah.

140
00:07:35.315 --> 00:07:37.016
So what does it do when you give it to them?

141
00:07:37.876 --> 00:07:38.596
What did you do?

142
00:07:38.696 --> 00:07:40.617
How did you decide that you're going to be an astronaut?

143
00:07:40.637 --> 00:07:41.837
That's a radical idea.

144
00:07:42.237 --> 00:07:42.997
People don't know this.

145
00:07:43.157 --> 00:07:43.578
I know this.

146
00:07:44.018 --> 00:07:45.278
Aren't you the first Iranian?

147
00:07:45.378 --> 00:07:47.239
Are you the first Iranian astronaut?

148
00:07:47.559 --> 00:07:48.399
Iranian man.

149
00:07:48.439 --> 00:07:49.919
Yeah.

150
00:07:50.420 --> 00:07:52.600
Iranian man, American.

151
00:07:53.300 --> 00:07:55.581
And that's legendary status.

152
00:07:55.621 --> 00:08:01.883
Like who decided what version of Iman Jahangir decided I'm going to go to space?

153
00:08:01.943 --> 00:08:02.263
Yeah.

154
00:08:02.969 --> 00:08:03.909
No, I'm asking you.

155
00:08:04.009 --> 00:08:06.090
The delusional one, I guess.

156
00:08:09.491 --> 00:08:14.933
It takes a rare confidence, and that confidence starts with permission.

157
00:08:15.273 --> 00:08:19.515
And it could be by a stranger, some just random teacher guy that you happen to meet in line.

158
00:08:19.735 --> 00:08:21.816
Because I would talk with students in the grocery line.

159
00:08:22.156 --> 00:08:24.397
Like, I would just say, hey, like we were standing there.

160
00:08:24.597 --> 00:08:27.978
And now as a, like, you know, I'm a new parent person.

161
00:08:28.558 --> 00:08:31.420
And so I've got two young kids just because of the way things worked out.

162
00:08:32.781 --> 00:08:38.945
And I'm going in the grocery line and, oh my gosh, everything that kids would want is right there.

163
00:08:39.325 --> 00:08:40.386
And they're freaking out.

164
00:08:40.426 --> 00:08:41.006
Can I get this?

165
00:08:41.046 --> 00:08:41.627
Can I get this?

166
00:08:41.727 --> 00:08:43.388
And I'm just trying to get through the grocery line.

167
00:08:43.968 --> 00:08:45.750
And it's just yet another struggle today.

168
00:08:45.870 --> 00:08:48.672
And the answer is no, you can't have that, that, that, that, or that.

169
00:08:49.172 --> 00:08:56.537
So knowing that, I would say to, like, I would be standing there witnessing this, not as a, not as a, um,

170
00:08:59.225 --> 00:09:09.895
commiserator I would as a witness like oh look at this like a reality TV show observer yes and then I would say hey I would just interrupt the process and

171
00:09:10.917 --> 00:09:20.702
And it was in this, in that space, they learned not to ask students what they want to be when they grow up, because this is a cliche thing that we as grownups ask students.

172
00:09:20.982 --> 00:09:30.246
And it's one of the things that we as grownups say when we don't know what, like, we don't acknowledge that this experience in front of us is actually a person.

173
00:09:30.646 --> 00:09:33.768
They may be a caterpillar, but one day they're going to be a butterfly and they're

174
00:09:34.212 --> 00:09:35.474
And we can have that conversation.

175
00:09:35.494 --> 00:09:41.643
And so what I asked him is, what challenge are they going to solve?

176
00:09:41.964 --> 00:09:44.207
What challenge are you going to solve when you...

177
00:09:44.227 --> 00:09:45.108
I'm like, what do you mean?

178
00:09:45.850 --> 00:09:46.370
What do you mean?

179
00:09:46.771 --> 00:09:49.195
And that, when they ask, what do you mean?

180
00:09:50.380 --> 00:09:54.544
then all of a sudden all sorts of possibilities are open.

181
00:09:55.264 --> 00:09:58.727
Because when we say to a student, what do you want to be when you grow up?

182
00:09:58.807 --> 00:10:02.971
And they say, I don't know, which is a fair, it's a fair answer.

183
00:10:02.991 --> 00:10:03.091
Yeah.

184
00:10:03.612 --> 00:10:05.073
I don't know what I want to be when I grow up.

185
00:10:05.473 --> 00:10:16.162
But it's also cliche because if we take, if we realize, if we learn that we have the opportunity to declare anything and we can be it, which is really what, you know, Alyssa Carson said,

186
00:10:17.323 --> 00:10:22.527
Alyssa Carson, she's been working to go to space since she was five, and now she's finishing her PhD.

187
00:10:22.567 --> 00:10:25.109
She's still very young, but very successful.

188
00:10:25.729 --> 00:10:29.672
And she always tells students, talk with everybody.

189
00:10:29.712 --> 00:10:39.159
Tell everybody wherever you, if you want to go to space, tell everybody wherever you go, because you never know when a person is going to be an astronaut teacher or an astronaut.

190
00:10:40.420 --> 00:10:46.527
And then the next thing you know, you have an ally or a mentor or a peer who's going to celebrate you and help you launch.

191
00:10:47.528 --> 00:10:53.936
And that's these conversations in grocery lines, like in just places, safe places.

192
00:10:55.925 --> 00:10:59.747
led me to this, all of these understandings.

193
00:10:59.787 --> 00:11:08.350
Like I said, these students became my teachers and they showed me like what challenge you want to solve when you're older, when you are the grownup.

194
00:11:08.991 --> 00:11:11.092
And giving students permission right there

195
00:11:11.972 --> 00:11:15.215
When they tell me, like, what role are you going to take?

196
00:11:15.876 --> 00:11:16.897
What's the opportunity?

197
00:11:16.917 --> 00:11:19.459
What's the thing that you plan on doing as a grown-up?

198
00:11:19.819 --> 00:11:24.424
And they can say sports because 50% of them say sports.

199
00:11:24.464 --> 00:11:26.706
50% of all students will say professional athlete.

200
00:11:26.866 --> 00:11:27.126
Yeah.

201
00:11:27.547 --> 00:11:36.615
And then, like, if it's American football, I ask them how many professional football player jobs are there in the U.S. annually?

202
00:11:36.635 --> 00:11:36.815
Yeah.

203
00:11:36.835 --> 00:11:36.935
Yeah.

204
00:11:37.736 --> 00:11:38.578
And they don't know.

205
00:11:38.838 --> 00:11:39.419
No one does.

206
00:11:39.579 --> 00:11:40.681
It's about 2,200.

207
00:11:41.282 --> 00:11:44.868
And them knowing that is critical to them getting to do that thing.

208
00:11:44.888 --> 00:11:48.414
But what I say is have you thought about doing that in space?

209
00:11:48.655 --> 00:11:49.796
Whatever their answer is.

210
00:11:51.315 --> 00:11:55.698
Could be cosmetologist, could be cardiologist, veterinarian.

211
00:11:56.098 --> 00:11:57.839
Have you thought about doing it in space?

212
00:11:58.399 --> 00:12:13.669
Because in giving them that permission, I give them a critical competitive advantage for every student who doesn't happen to bump into an astronaut teacher, who hasn't trained people to go to space, who hasn't given people the tools to succeed before flight, during flight, and after flight.

213
00:12:14.847 --> 00:12:26.255
And then the funny thing is along the way, Iman, is that I don't feel – after working with Sian Proctor in particular, Sian is the one that changed the whole thing for me.

214
00:12:26.295 --> 00:12:32.660
She's the one that by witnessing it being part of her launch team and getting to go to space with her as she went –

215
00:12:33.480 --> 00:12:40.465
um, on, on the ground, I was on the ground and she went, uh, uh, I got to see that anyone can do it.

216
00:12:40.525 --> 00:12:43.447
First of all, we can do it once we put our mind to it.

217
00:12:43.607 --> 00:12:50.612
And so then I, that's what, that's why I applied for the uplift aerospace role and then flight.

218
00:12:51.172 --> 00:12:56.776
And then also after working with her this amount of time and the getting to,

219
00:12:58.645 --> 00:13:14.895
experience or be be privy to her discovery of earth light yeah yeah very cool discovery yeah that's important this thing that dr sign proctor has has discovered is akin to

220
00:13:16.355 --> 00:13:37.860
is akin to darwin and evolution or newton and gravity like the the relevance of those understandings to our existence in in space local space the world around us beyond because it implies directly that we can't live away from the earth for any significant length of time yeah after i got that from cyan

221
00:13:38.800 --> 00:13:44.043
I did not feel, I do not feel the necessity to go to space as I did before.

222
00:13:44.143 --> 00:13:47.686
It's as if she solved a challenge that I didn't know I had.

223
00:13:47.826 --> 00:13:49.927
I was looking for an answer that she gave me.

224
00:13:49.987 --> 00:13:54.530
She gave me an insight into our existence that...

225
00:13:55.210 --> 00:14:05.663
I could have only got by going to space, but having someone like Simon Proctor go to space and get that insight and bring it back and share it and now getting to be part of the process of sharing that with other people.

226
00:14:06.183 --> 00:14:10.909
Iman, I mean, this is, this is, it has given me new value to the work that I do.

227
00:14:11.269 --> 00:14:12.030
I am less inclined.

228
00:14:12.050 --> 00:14:12.431
That's fantastic.

229
00:14:12.791 --> 00:14:24.720
Yeah, it's kind of like me and you have had this conversation about your passion for cardiology and medicine and how it is distinct from other astronauts who go to space.

230
00:14:25.201 --> 00:14:32.266
And I mean, this is sort of a confidential nature for other astronauts, but many astronauts go to space and they don't know what they're going to do.

231
00:14:32.406 --> 00:14:33.207
Yeah, they're left.

232
00:14:33.287 --> 00:14:36.990
Yeah, especially after like a 15, 20 year career with NASA.

233
00:14:39.245 --> 00:14:40.986
Or that, you know, like that's a big deal.

234
00:14:41.006 --> 00:14:47.328
But then the other, with a NASA career, it's a little different because you have that authority in a way.

235
00:14:47.628 --> 00:14:53.249
But we have all of these new private and commercial astronauts that go like the Blue 92.

236
00:14:54.670 --> 00:15:01.591
Then they don't know what, you have introduced me to astronauts who needed some support after they came back.

237
00:15:01.832 --> 00:15:05.993
And I couldn't help them because they didn't know who they were before they left.

238
00:15:06.273 --> 00:15:06.513
Yeah.

239
00:15:06.553 --> 00:15:06.813
You.

240
00:15:07.473 --> 00:15:15.003
being a cardiologist, I told you, I told you before you, before you flew this exact same thing, you're going to know exactly what you're going to do when you get back.

241
00:15:15.083 --> 00:15:15.844
And look, you're doing it.

242
00:15:16.284 --> 00:15:16.605
Doing it.

243
00:15:16.625 --> 00:15:17.145
And here we are.

244
00:15:17.165 --> 00:15:21.931
I want to ask you, you know, because you've taught kids and talk to kids around the world.

245
00:15:22.732 --> 00:15:22.852
Uh,

246
00:15:23.453 --> 00:15:26.836
And they all have different backgrounds, right, culturally, educationally.

247
00:15:27.296 --> 00:15:31.219
But does the spark of wanting to go to space look the same in every kid?

248
00:15:31.279 --> 00:15:34.582
I mean, because I do think it's a thing that most kids have.

249
00:15:34.622 --> 00:15:36.784
Maybe not every kid, but a lot of kids want to go to space.

250
00:15:36.884 --> 00:15:38.565
Is that the same wherever you are in the world?

251
00:15:39.106 --> 00:15:46.111
Iman, if I do not mention at this point that I am the author of Mike Mongo's Kid Astronaut Training Manual...

252
00:15:47.272 --> 00:15:50.295
And it is available right now, wherever books are sold.

253
00:15:50.695 --> 00:15:52.536
My publisher will eat me alive.

254
00:15:52.677 --> 00:15:52.977
Yeah.

255
00:15:53.497 --> 00:15:55.359
Which I do want to talk about this.

256
00:15:55.379 --> 00:15:57.160
You're super kind for having that right there.

257
00:15:57.280 --> 00:15:57.500
Yeah.

258
00:15:57.520 --> 00:15:57.901
Thank you.

259
00:15:58.241 --> 00:15:58.461
Yeah.

260
00:15:58.521 --> 00:16:00.243
So is it the same?

261
00:16:00.403 --> 00:16:01.383
No, it's not.

262
00:16:01.504 --> 00:16:03.605
And this is, in a way, it's crushing.

263
00:16:04.606 --> 00:16:05.907
And in a way, it's inspiring.

264
00:16:06.768 --> 00:16:09.350
Like, I work with so many students in India.

265
00:16:09.950 --> 00:16:10.190
Yeah.

266
00:16:10.551 --> 00:16:11.992
And in India...

267
00:16:14.028 --> 00:16:25.056
there's a caste system that's not, that I don't really have my head wrapped around, but I know that it impacts how people, what students imagine they can and can't do.

268
00:16:25.997 --> 00:16:28.779
When I tell students in the U.S. to write a letter to, um,

269
00:16:30.600 --> 00:16:31.541
Jared Isaacman.

270
00:16:32.642 --> 00:16:33.443
You know Jared, right?

271
00:16:33.563 --> 00:16:34.344
I know Jared, yeah.

272
00:16:34.604 --> 00:16:34.965
Okay.

273
00:16:35.045 --> 00:16:38.289
So now I knew him as an astronaut.

274
00:16:38.689 --> 00:16:40.291
Now I know him as administrator of NASA.

275
00:16:40.851 --> 00:16:48.360
And when I tell students in the U.S. to write a letter to Jared Isaacman because he'll write a letter back to you, they know that they can.

276
00:16:49.756 --> 00:16:50.257
It's weird.

277
00:16:50.277 --> 00:16:51.498
Like, they didn't think of it before.

278
00:16:51.518 --> 00:16:52.999
Like, oh, yeah, okay, that makes sense.

279
00:16:53.480 --> 00:17:02.089
But in India, when I said to students to write a letter to the director of ISRO, Yeah.

280
00:17:02.709 --> 00:17:02.930
Yeah.

281
00:17:03.720 --> 00:17:25.675
uh a case of on was that i i know i don't know who the current one is that's the one i knew and and uh the very are flummoxed they're just like what like how what like no you just do yeah and that's that's the mid midpoint there's another extension of this when i was in haiti teaching classrooms in haiti

282
00:17:26.608 --> 00:17:30.773
Haiti, I've seen poverty before.

283
00:17:31.074 --> 00:17:31.354
Yeah.

284
00:17:31.714 --> 00:17:36.440
So I wasn't as moved as some members of the people I traveled with, of the group I traveled with.

285
00:17:36.941 --> 00:17:41.226
Some people were brought to tears immediately upon arrival.

286
00:17:42.187 --> 00:17:44.089
And thankfully, I've seen poverty.

287
00:17:44.149 --> 00:17:46.370
Thankfully, I know what I can do and I can't do.

288
00:17:46.730 --> 00:17:48.131
There are things that we can do.

289
00:17:48.272 --> 00:17:53.976
There's other things that we think we can do that are of no help whatsoever and actually can contribute to the problem.

290
00:17:54.576 --> 00:17:58.779
When I said to students in Haiti, and this is also true in Cuba, in Cuba.

291
00:18:01.228 --> 00:18:05.532
you can be the first, you can be the first astronaut from Cuba.

292
00:18:05.552 --> 00:18:06.673
That's not Havana.

293
00:18:06.814 --> 00:18:07.294
Havana.

294
00:18:07.314 --> 00:18:10.958
There's, there's like the first, yes, the cosmonaut or what?

295
00:18:10.978 --> 00:18:11.178
Yeah.

296
00:18:11.198 --> 00:18:20.867
The first, the first, the first black astronaut is from Cuba, African astronaut and the first, um, Afro Caribbean.

297
00:18:21.488 --> 00:18:24.270
And then, uh, and when I say the students in Haiti, uh,

298
00:18:25.715 --> 00:18:27.056
It was so shocking to me.

299
00:18:28.577 --> 00:18:31.079
I reflect on this pretty regularly.

300
00:18:31.319 --> 00:18:31.600
Yeah.

301
00:18:31.700 --> 00:18:33.261
Because we take things for granted.

302
00:18:33.761 --> 00:18:36.163
Like, we can grow up to be an astronaut in the States.

303
00:18:36.203 --> 00:18:44.789
But when I say to students in a place like Haiti that you can be the first astronaut from Haiti, it's like I'm speaking Martian and I have three heads.

304
00:18:45.250 --> 00:18:45.550
Yeah.

305
00:18:46.070 --> 00:18:47.111
It's not anything.

306
00:18:47.511 --> 00:18:49.693
There are ideas that do not connect.

307
00:18:51.503 --> 00:18:56.869
So when I find a student in that situation who can put the pieces together and realize,

308
00:18:58.073 --> 00:19:02.236
I just have to give myself permission to pursue any goal.

309
00:19:02.257 --> 00:19:07.821
And that's why this conversation and what I do has a value far beyond space.

310
00:19:08.181 --> 00:19:14.667
It's because everything I'm talking about, like I've got the formula for success is do what I love with who I love and help others.

311
00:19:14.887 --> 00:19:15.127
Yeah.

312
00:19:15.467 --> 00:19:16.789
That's true of anything.

313
00:19:17.649 --> 00:19:23.754
If I want to go to space, if I do what I love with who I love and help others, no matter what the outcome is, I will work.

314
00:19:24.733 --> 00:19:25.393
be a success.

315
00:19:25.513 --> 00:19:26.474
I will feel success.

316
00:19:26.574 --> 00:19:27.615
I will experience success.

317
00:19:27.715 --> 00:19:28.916
I will represent success.

318
00:19:29.216 --> 00:19:30.296
I will embody success.

319
00:19:30.657 --> 00:19:33.098
As long as I do what I love with who I love and help others.

320
00:19:33.238 --> 00:19:43.344
If I abbreviate any of those, do what I kind of like with who I love and help others, do what I love with people I can't stand, even though we're helping others, it won't work.

321
00:19:43.784 --> 00:19:49.408
But if I do, when I do what I love with who I love and help others, no matter what, I will succeed.

322
00:19:50.430 --> 00:19:57.172
When students are able to take that on, own it, and run to their future with it, then everything is possible.

323
00:19:57.332 --> 00:20:02.934
And this is really what it comes down to is the teaching is about creating a world and a future worth having.

324
00:20:03.014 --> 00:20:07.696
And I imagine astronaut job camp, this is where you've done a lot of this teaching in the past?

325
00:20:08.436 --> 00:20:08.636
Yes.

326
00:20:09.424 --> 00:20:18.129
And I know you've set up, you have a stage where you do it live from Saxford Spaceport up in the island of Unst.

327
00:20:18.229 --> 00:20:19.870
Is it Unst in the Shetlands?

328
00:20:20.170 --> 00:20:20.330
Unst.

329
00:20:20.350 --> 00:20:21.751
Which is pretty great.

330
00:20:21.771 --> 00:20:24.873
I mean, that's UK's first vertical launch facility for people who don't know.

331
00:20:25.974 --> 00:20:28.195
It's the first vertical launch facility in Western Europe.

332
00:20:28.555 --> 00:20:29.216
Oh, that's awesome.

333
00:20:29.256 --> 00:20:29.496
Yeah.

334
00:20:29.836 --> 00:20:30.536
So why there?

335
00:20:30.617 --> 00:20:34.679
How did you end up at Saxford in the Shetlands?

336
00:20:37.167 --> 00:20:39.689
I am not afraid to write a letter to a billionaire.

337
00:20:40.989 --> 00:20:52.437
And there was a, I had a dream in, I had a dream in December of 2020 of teaching an astronaut job camp in a place with a lot of students with red hair.

338
00:20:52.617 --> 00:20:55.959
I used to, and I wrote down the dream in my dream journal.

339
00:20:56.619 --> 00:21:04.044
And then I did some research and I was like, where would there be a place that students have a lot of red hair that I would be teaching astronautics?

340
00:21:05.012 --> 00:21:11.477
And then I found out that there was a competition for a new launch facility in the UK.

341
00:21:12.138 --> 00:21:17.522
And there are a lot of red-haired ginger students in the UK.

342
00:21:18.142 --> 00:21:28.530
And then I studied the specifics and particulars of each potential, of each candidate launch facility.

343
00:21:29.130 --> 00:21:31.032
And there was a, I think it was a U.S.,

344
00:21:34.075 --> 00:21:57.497
launch document called sept the scepter document and i believe that a friend of mine his name is brad foreman he is uh he's probably kind of my heir in a way he knows as much about astronaut teaching as me he's supported me many times and he did the uh english to spanish translation of the astronaut structure made in my first book awesome yeah

345
00:21:58.378 --> 00:21:59.119
He's amazing.

346
00:21:59.359 --> 00:22:01.081
And he has a military background.

347
00:22:01.101 --> 00:22:01.822
He's in the military.

348
00:22:02.223 --> 00:22:03.084
He found this document.

349
00:22:03.965 --> 00:22:14.316
We discussed it, shared it with me, read it through and decided that of the candidates for the vertical launch facility in the UK, that Saxophore had the best opportunity.

350
00:22:14.557 --> 00:22:15.318
With that in mind...

351
00:22:16.462 --> 00:22:24.214
I began sending letters to the billionaire funder of the Saxon Board spaceport.

352
00:22:24.274 --> 00:22:28.361
Now, the finding is you can't really get letters to billionaires, per se.

353
00:22:28.841 --> 00:22:29.542
But...

354
00:22:30.972 --> 00:22:33.294
I can get letters to people around them.

355
00:22:33.875 --> 00:22:34.075
Yeah.

356
00:22:34.095 --> 00:22:37.899
And so I just kept on sending letters to the people around this person.

357
00:22:38.059 --> 00:22:43.023
Eventually they contacted that those letters percolated, made it through.

358
00:22:43.804 --> 00:22:52.893
He contacted the direct, the, uh, the founder of the, uh, the, the main founder, Frank Strong, who's who died last year of cancer.

359
00:22:53.433 --> 00:22:54.654
Yeah, I remember.

360
00:22:55.355 --> 00:22:55.675
Yes.

361
00:22:56.096 --> 00:23:00.100
And his wife, Debbie Strang, I said, strong, Strang.

362
00:23:00.820 --> 00:23:07.567
And, and this is like the, the, uh, the director, Yvette Hopkins messaged me.

363
00:23:07.587 --> 00:23:11.610
He's like, she, she was like, why are you sending all these emails?

364
00:23:12.880 --> 00:23:14.300
and she has a military background.

365
00:23:14.320 --> 00:23:21.043
So I was, she, she gave me my, my shot and we put together a, um, a program of intent.

366
00:23:21.503 --> 00:23:22.203
That's awesome.

367
00:23:22.803 --> 00:23:26.144
And then the next thing you know, that was six years ago.

368
00:23:26.164 --> 00:23:30.206
This is gonna be our six year of astronaut job camp from Saxford spaceport.

369
00:23:30.586 --> 00:23:35.908
And we, we have, we staged it for students around the world is paid for by Anders bless him.

370
00:23:36.848 --> 00:23:37.288
And, uh,

371
00:23:39.005 --> 00:23:40.306
It's been amazing.

372
00:23:40.447 --> 00:23:56.179
I'm so grateful because the students we've met through, some of the students I've worked with over the years, some of the students who are brand new, a lot of UK students, so UK astronaut candidates in space and aerospace program, potential candidates.

373
00:23:57.567 --> 00:24:04.770
anything, engineers, physicists, they show up and I get to share with them these insights that you and I are discussing.

374
00:24:04.930 --> 00:24:05.350
That's awesome.

375
00:24:05.390 --> 00:24:13.414
They get to, and then I introduce them to people like you and Chris Zabrowski and Cy and all our astronaut friends, Nicole Stott, God bless her.

376
00:24:14.374 --> 00:24:17.015
And, and it's been, it's been great.

377
00:24:17.576 --> 00:24:23.338
And when you're running these camps, what does it taught you about what kids are capable of and what they need from adults?

378
00:24:26.972 --> 00:24:33.013
I would say that I have a, I don't know that that's exactly right.

379
00:24:33.893 --> 00:24:37.914
I may be, I have this idea of it's called prosperity.

380
00:24:38.294 --> 00:24:42.215
It means that the, yeah, that the universe is secretly working on our behalf.

381
00:24:43.235 --> 00:24:45.975
The universe is secretly out there working in our favor.

382
00:24:46.996 --> 00:24:54.537
And I get, I give students once they have permission to imagine themselves living, working and playing in space, living, working and playing.

383
00:24:55.598 --> 00:25:01.820
Cause that's the other catch that you got to, the student mindset is that we're going to be grownups and playing all the time.

384
00:25:02.100 --> 00:25:03.781
And I think that's a good mindset to have.

385
00:25:03.801 --> 00:25:04.801
We should be playing more.

386
00:25:05.661 --> 00:25:11.283
And, and, uh, then once they get that permission, they realize that they can pursue it any way they want.

387
00:25:12.401 --> 00:25:16.343
And send letters to anybody and those people a lot of times will send them back.

388
00:25:16.684 --> 00:25:18.364
Yeah.

389
00:25:18.665 --> 00:25:28.190
Then there's a good percentage of these students who are self-starters who start sending letters out and start making things happen for themselves at like around eight.

390
00:25:28.210 --> 00:25:29.131
Age eight.

391
00:25:29.211 --> 00:25:29.691
Very cool.

392
00:25:29.891 --> 00:25:30.792
That's the age, huh?

393
00:25:31.952 --> 00:25:36.055
I mean, between nine and 13 is when we began imagining ourselves in career roles.

394
00:25:36.095 --> 00:25:36.395
Yeah.

395
00:25:36.415 --> 00:25:36.595
Yeah.

396
00:25:40.964 --> 00:25:41.144
Yeah.

397
00:25:41.684 --> 00:25:47.648
And then in your book, the one that we pointed out, Mike Mongo's Kid Astronaut Training Manual.

398
00:25:48.088 --> 00:25:49.369
Available where books are sold.

399
00:25:49.469 --> 00:25:49.749
That's right.

400
00:25:49.769 --> 00:25:50.450
Ask for it by name.

401
00:25:51.130 --> 00:25:52.351
Kidastronaut.com.

402
00:25:52.611 --> 00:25:54.072
Kirkus simply said, get it.

403
00:25:54.893 --> 00:25:55.513
Get it.

404
00:25:55.533 --> 00:25:56.594
That's a great review.

405
00:25:56.654 --> 00:25:57.534
Yeah, it's a good review.

406
00:25:57.954 --> 00:26:02.537
I guess my question is, what did you want a kid to feel as they were getting to the last page?

407
00:26:04.378 --> 00:26:05.679
I can do anything.

408
00:26:06.219 --> 00:26:06.620
Okay.

409
00:26:06.660 --> 00:26:07.740
Not just be an astronaut.

410
00:26:07.780 --> 00:26:08.041
Anything.

411
00:26:08.061 --> 00:26:09.041
There's no rules.

412
00:26:09.261 --> 00:26:10.182
It's my world.

413
00:26:13.067 --> 00:26:13.868
It's the truth.

414
00:26:17.170 --> 00:26:24.714
Just because all these rules were here when I arrived doesn't mean that if I had followed the rules set in path for me, I would not be an astronaut teacher.

415
00:26:25.175 --> 00:26:26.576
And it took boldness.

416
00:26:26.716 --> 00:26:35.882
When Mae Jemison, Dr. Mae Jemison, first African-American woman to fly to space, when she flew to space and then, okay, so she flew to space.

417
00:26:36.162 --> 00:26:39.164
She invited me to speak at Johnson Space Center 2013.

418
00:26:39.984 --> 00:26:40.985
Let me tell you what.

419
00:26:41.265 --> 00:26:44.547
When I like that's not many years after I started.

420
00:26:44.987 --> 00:26:54.051
And when I got in front of all of those people and introduced myself as Mike Mongo, astronaut teacher, Iman, I was 49 percent sure I was going to be arrested.

421
00:26:56.172 --> 00:26:57.313
That's awesome.

422
00:26:57.353 --> 00:27:01.995
But 51 percent said, this is why this is what you're doing.

423
00:27:02.035 --> 00:27:02.796
This is who you are.

424
00:27:03.216 --> 00:27:06.758
And afterwards, when astronauts come up to me and say, we've been waiting for you.

425
00:27:06.978 --> 00:27:07.378
That's awesome.

426
00:27:07.398 --> 00:27:07.598
Awesome.

427
00:27:09.521 --> 00:27:11.002
Thank you, Dr. Mae Jemison.

428
00:27:11.102 --> 00:27:12.123
Yeah, that's incredible.

429
00:27:12.143 --> 00:27:13.204
She's a great ally.

430
00:27:13.504 --> 00:27:24.913
Yeah, and so it's people like you who just opened doors for me as we work to build and create, author, architect, create a world and a future worth having.

431
00:27:25.606 --> 00:27:40.357
Well, and you've been doing this for 20 years, but you also have been quite close to going to space, both with uplift aerospace and possibly, you know, who knows what opportunities will open up with commercial spaces where as we move into the next decade.

432
00:27:40.377 --> 00:27:47.022
But how does it feel to be this close, you know, to actually getting seeing your dream come true in your lifetime?

433
00:27:47.062 --> 00:27:50.745
Because I have no doubt that it will just maybe a couple more years.

434
00:27:51.488 --> 00:28:02.097
You are an even, you know exactly what it's like because you made it into a short number of astronaut selectees for NASA.

435
00:28:02.377 --> 00:28:03.618
Yeah.

436
00:28:03.638 --> 00:28:06.120
And that's such a high acclaim.

437
00:28:07.108 --> 00:28:13.611
I can't imagine the rise to get to the place where you're in the shortlist and then to get the call and then find out I haven't been selected.

438
00:28:14.011 --> 00:28:19.154
And then at that time when you were going through that, there still wasn't the private space industry that there is today.

439
00:28:19.254 --> 00:28:20.474
And you didn't stop.

440
00:28:21.175 --> 00:28:23.396
How many people stop there?

441
00:28:25.717 --> 00:28:26.097
Excuse me.

442
00:28:26.137 --> 00:28:30.859
How many people that you were in the same class with applicants?

443
00:28:30.899 --> 00:28:33.541
I think there's like 4,000 applicants in the class that you were.

444
00:28:33.641 --> 00:28:33.741
Yeah.

445
00:28:33.781 --> 00:28:33.981
Yeah.

446
00:28:35.263 --> 00:28:37.384
Well, did 4,000 other people go to space?

447
00:28:38.365 --> 00:28:38.905
A handful.

448
00:28:39.385 --> 00:28:41.346
Not yet, but maybe one day.

449
00:28:41.386 --> 00:28:43.547
Maybe, but a handful.

450
00:28:43.707 --> 00:29:00.956
And the people that stuck with it and went through the emotional ups and downs, because even before, like you made it to a pretty small number cutoff, but there's those other cutoffs before where if I made it through one cutoff at NASA, I would feel really good about myself.

451
00:29:01.917 --> 00:29:03.558
And then I would try harder.

452
00:29:04.665 --> 00:29:11.567
So for me, like when I, Blue Origin is changing its program, we can talk about a couple other things, like Blue Origin.

453
00:29:11.647 --> 00:29:14.307
You and I have a very close relationship with Blue Origin.

454
00:29:14.867 --> 00:29:17.428
I know everybody all the way from Jeff Bezos on down.

455
00:29:17.508 --> 00:29:18.388
I know a lot of people.

456
00:29:18.428 --> 00:29:26.270
And you know a whole other strata of people because you flew to space with Blue on their New Shepard program, which is shelved.

457
00:29:26.830 --> 00:29:27.571
We say shelved.

458
00:29:27.671 --> 00:29:33.012
This is what, this is all the human flight patches from Blue Origin's New Shepard program.

459
00:29:34.580 --> 00:29:34.928
So far.

460
00:29:36.853 --> 00:29:39.814
Oh yeah, well, my take on that is that's it.

461
00:29:39.914 --> 00:29:41.194
It's the blue 92.

462
00:29:41.434 --> 00:29:42.215
It's one and done.

463
00:29:42.715 --> 00:29:45.236
Sending all those people to space was amazing.

464
00:29:45.296 --> 00:29:46.396
No one was ever hurt.

465
00:29:46.956 --> 00:29:47.236
Yeah.

466
00:29:47.836 --> 00:29:49.217
And Virgin Galactic can't say that.

467
00:29:49.317 --> 00:29:50.437
And I love Virgin Galactic.

468
00:29:50.917 --> 00:30:01.020
But there's a saying in space that is trite, cliche, and one of the heaviest sayings that there is, it is space is hard.

469
00:30:01.680 --> 00:30:05.882
We hate hearing it because a lot of times we hear it when the worst things happen.

470
00:30:06.262 --> 00:30:06.522
Yeah.

471
00:30:07.525 --> 00:30:14.387
Oh, when the new Glenn just blew up, which is two blocks that way and five miles line of sight for me.

472
00:30:14.867 --> 00:30:23.869
So I was sitting at this table with the kids having, and the way that the blinds are just like they are right now, all of that light from the explosion came in on our dinner table.

473
00:30:25.150 --> 00:30:28.131
And I knew exactly what it was because I knew the cold fire test was that night.

474
00:30:28.611 --> 00:30:35.973
I mean, but it was, it was still was remarkable to my mind that the actual new Glenn actually exploded on the actual launch pad.

475
00:30:35.993 --> 00:30:36.193
Yeah.

476
00:30:36.213 --> 00:30:36.333
Yeah.

477
00:30:37.413 --> 00:30:40.244
And, and those are, that's a space is hard moment.

478
00:30:42.278 --> 00:30:45.701
And so the new Glenn was my ride to space.

479
00:30:45.841 --> 00:30:46.962
And now, excuse me.

480
00:30:47.482 --> 00:30:48.002
Thank God, no.

481
00:30:48.943 --> 00:30:51.605
The new Shepard was your ride to space.

482
00:30:51.825 --> 00:30:52.045
Yes.

483
00:30:52.225 --> 00:30:54.287
And that's not a ride any longer.

484
00:30:54.327 --> 00:30:54.727
Not right.

485
00:30:54.807 --> 00:30:55.107
Yeah.

486
00:30:55.728 --> 00:30:56.408
It's not reliable.

487
00:30:56.528 --> 00:30:57.489
It may never be again.

488
00:30:57.509 --> 00:30:59.991
There's no reason to believe that it would be.

489
00:31:00.851 --> 00:31:02.032
It was proof of concept.

490
00:31:02.152 --> 00:31:03.834
And it was a success.

491
00:31:03.914 --> 00:31:05.475
And it did the work that it did.

492
00:31:05.515 --> 00:31:09.197
It created you and 91 other astronauts.

493
00:31:09.738 --> 00:31:11.019
That's a gift to us all.

494
00:31:11.399 --> 00:31:11.499
Yeah.

495
00:31:11.879 --> 00:31:16.101
And yeah, Ed Dwight got to go to space on New Shepard.

496
00:31:16.601 --> 00:31:17.361
William Shatner.

497
00:31:17.701 --> 00:31:17.961
Yeah.

498
00:31:18.261 --> 00:31:18.921
Wally Funk.

499
00:31:18.941 --> 00:31:19.742
Wally Funk, yeah.

500
00:31:20.502 --> 00:31:21.722
Amanda Gwynn.

501
00:31:21.922 --> 00:31:22.703
Yep, Amanda.

502
00:31:23.703 --> 00:31:25.544
I mean, people who I love dearly.

503
00:31:26.144 --> 00:31:26.364
Yeah.

504
00:31:26.544 --> 00:31:30.565
And who mean the world to me got to go to space on New Glenn.

505
00:31:30.985 --> 00:31:31.185
Yeah.

506
00:31:31.225 --> 00:31:32.226
Excuse me, New Shepard.

507
00:31:32.246 --> 00:31:32.946
New Shepard, yeah.

508
00:31:32.966 --> 00:31:33.546
Keep on doing it.

509
00:31:33.566 --> 00:31:35.067
It's because we're going to go on New Glenn.

510
00:31:35.107 --> 00:31:35.767
That's, you know.

511
00:31:35.947 --> 00:31:36.327
Yeah.

512
00:31:36.527 --> 00:31:37.427
Yeah, that's the plan.

513
00:31:37.447 --> 00:31:38.448
Yeah, yeah.

514
00:31:39.188 --> 00:31:43.129
And so, um, this is going to be, it's, it's a tough time.

515
00:31:43.169 --> 00:31:44.909
It's, it's a real challenging time right now.

516
00:31:45.669 --> 00:31:55.451
I think that if we stop looking at things confrontationally, I believe, and how I operate is I, I'm not in resistance to the way that things are heading right now.

517
00:31:55.951 --> 00:31:57.591
The flow is too great.

518
00:31:58.412 --> 00:32:00.072
So why would I be opposed to it?

519
00:32:00.212 --> 00:32:05.333
I don't know that there's a time and a place to be against the big movements.

520
00:32:05.633 --> 00:32:05.733
Yeah.

521
00:32:05.753 --> 00:32:05.933
Yeah.

522
00:32:06.650 --> 00:32:16.822
When the movements are eradicating whole swaths of civilization, for instance, that's a time to make a stand or to figure out another way.

523
00:32:17.664 --> 00:32:20.107
Right now, where we are with space...

524
00:32:21.161 --> 00:32:24.124
There are opportunities to be turned off by space.

525
00:32:24.204 --> 00:32:30.610
In fact, I talk with people about how space has become the thing that no one ever imagined it would be.

526
00:32:30.770 --> 00:32:33.593
It's become mundane.

527
00:32:33.913 --> 00:32:36.216
It's become, it's like a regular job.

528
00:32:36.356 --> 00:32:36.616
Yep.

529
00:32:37.897 --> 00:32:39.138
That's so crazy.

530
00:32:39.459 --> 00:32:39.759
Yeah.

531
00:32:40.019 --> 00:32:42.582
No, I mean, that's an accurate description, I think.

532
00:32:44.054 --> 00:32:44.534
Yeah, so.

533
00:32:45.214 --> 00:32:49.916
I mean, you do say, though, that we could solve for every challenge here on Earth if we solve for space.

534
00:32:49.936 --> 00:32:51.097
Yeah.

535
00:32:51.577 --> 00:32:54.698
Where did that idea come from and kind of what's that mechanism?

536
00:32:54.738 --> 00:32:55.298
What do you think?

537
00:32:57.139 --> 00:32:57.899
There was a.

538
00:33:02.161 --> 00:33:03.162
Well, there was one thing.

539
00:33:04.742 --> 00:33:06.303
I would often look at how.

540
00:33:07.288 --> 00:33:09.929
people contact me to solve problems all the time, you notice.

541
00:33:10.489 --> 00:33:15.371
And so that's one of the things, that's one of the ways I make a living is I solve challenges for other people.

542
00:33:15.391 --> 00:33:22.474
And so people bring challenges like communication of concepts and ideas to the rest of the world.

543
00:33:22.834 --> 00:33:25.695
How do I, how do we do this as a campaign, an idea campaign?

544
00:33:26.475 --> 00:33:31.897
And one of the, with that mindset, I approached what's the value of space?

545
00:33:32.057 --> 00:33:34.038
And we, you know, we have the, um,

546
00:33:34.918 --> 00:33:35.979
What are they called?

547
00:33:36.039 --> 00:33:36.840
Spinoffs?

548
00:33:37.060 --> 00:33:40.723
The things from NASA that we get the space spinoffs every year?

549
00:33:40.843 --> 00:33:43.945
Yeah, like all the technology.

550
00:33:45.226 --> 00:33:49.809
The fact that with NASA, for every dollar we spend at NASA, we get $7 back.

551
00:33:49.930 --> 00:33:50.530
It's the most.

552
00:33:51.411 --> 00:33:54.613
There's no return like it is as consistent in any.

553
00:33:54.713 --> 00:33:57.896
Not crypto, not gold, nothing.

554
00:33:57.996 --> 00:34:00.378
Space is the way to do this.

555
00:34:00.398 --> 00:34:00.898
Yeah.

556
00:34:01.218 --> 00:34:08.926
And yet we are still arguing over what amount of money do we spend on space every year with NASA.

557
00:34:09.306 --> 00:34:12.349
Thankfully, we have Jared Isaacman leading NASA right now.

558
00:34:12.929 --> 00:34:18.455
And he has revitalized the entire program, in my estimation, from here in Cape Canaveral.

559
00:34:18.555 --> 00:34:19.175
Absolutely.

560
00:34:19.296 --> 00:34:23.700
Yeah, I mean, you're sitting right there looking, too, from front row.

561
00:34:25.054 --> 00:34:31.038
So all of the challenges that we face on Earth are energy, health, sustainability.

562
00:34:31.919 --> 00:34:37.983
There is what Cyan calls justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion, which is Jedi.

563
00:34:39.612 --> 00:34:42.613
she had said to me before, A, for accessibility.

564
00:34:43.373 --> 00:34:50.795
Making these things part of what we receive from solving for space makes space have value for everyone.

565
00:34:51.435 --> 00:34:53.095
And that's the opportunity there.

566
00:34:53.895 --> 00:35:00.617
Nicole Stott and Chris Stott, her husband, are big proponents of energy from space.

567
00:35:01.337 --> 00:35:05.078
Because the sun energy that hits the planet

568
00:35:05.958 --> 00:35:09.043
is 90% more powerful outside the atmosphere.

569
00:35:09.724 --> 00:35:22.762
So by having satellites that collect that solar energy and then beam it back to Earth as harmless microwaves over broad swaths, like it would be half mile, the collectors would be half mile around, then...

570
00:35:24.499 --> 00:35:27.181
it's just really, it's not dirty.

571
00:35:27.361 --> 00:35:27.941
It's clean.

572
00:35:28.622 --> 00:35:31.223
Moving dirty industry space is a dream.

573
00:35:31.724 --> 00:35:31.944
Yeah.

574
00:35:31.984 --> 00:35:34.585
We talk about moving compute to space right now with AI.

575
00:35:34.605 --> 00:35:35.166
Yep.

576
00:35:35.626 --> 00:35:37.427
And, uh, there's other challenges there.

577
00:35:38.368 --> 00:35:42.450
I don't argue with the direction of everything.

578
00:35:43.271 --> 00:35:52.716
AI has, is, is representative of challenges in the same way that having used, using oil as representative challenges, using coal as representative challenges.

579
00:35:52.997 --> 00:35:53.637
and, and,

580
00:35:55.667 --> 00:35:56.388
We do what we can.

581
00:35:56.988 --> 00:35:58.329
Most people do the best they can.

582
00:35:58.349 --> 00:35:59.731
This is the craziest thing.

583
00:36:00.071 --> 00:36:01.632
It's hard to wrap our heads around.

584
00:36:01.652 --> 00:36:06.016
There are some people who just give up and say, okay, whatever, I'm going for the gold.

585
00:36:06.056 --> 00:36:07.097
I'm just going for the money.

586
00:36:07.778 --> 00:36:11.161
But most people, having worked with a lot of people, aren't that way.

587
00:36:11.981 --> 00:36:13.363
Most people are actually pretty cool.

588
00:36:14.444 --> 00:36:18.007
And so it's easy for me to be in love with humanity.

589
00:36:19.288 --> 00:36:21.009
I've met some terrible people, Iman.

590
00:36:21.309 --> 00:36:21.629
Yeah.

591
00:36:21.729 --> 00:36:32.455
You may have also, I've met some really terrible human beings who were held accountable for vast crimes in my exploration of humanity.

592
00:36:32.535 --> 00:36:32.835
Yeah.

593
00:36:33.176 --> 00:36:37.358
That has not changed the fact that I love other human beings.

594
00:36:37.843 --> 00:36:38.383
That's great.

595
00:36:38.484 --> 00:36:40.225
No, yeah, I mean, I think you're right.

596
00:36:40.285 --> 00:36:42.106
In general, humans want to do good things.

597
00:36:42.607 --> 00:36:45.208
We want to be curious and challenged.

598
00:36:46.129 --> 00:36:49.712
But yeah, sometimes some people twist it for sure.

599
00:36:52.113 --> 00:36:59.980
I got it wrong before, you know, when I was a kid, I wanted to own a McDonald's by the time I was 30 thinking that I was like, that would be the, I was like, I'll have McDonald's.

600
00:37:00.000 --> 00:37:01.822
I'd be able to eat McDonald's whenever I want.

601
00:37:01.842 --> 00:37:04.084
I'll be rich because I own a McDonald's.

602
00:37:04.864 --> 00:37:07.046
And that's not exactly how it works.

603
00:37:08.067 --> 00:37:29.012
And, and then we grow up, we mature and we, we understand impacts and, and astronautics is just one of those things that in giving students permission to imagine themselves as astronauts, it gives them permission to succeed in every other expression of who they may become or want to be.

604
00:37:29.352 --> 00:37:29.612
Yeah.

605
00:37:29.652 --> 00:37:33.633
And again, the end game is a world and a future worth having.

606
00:37:34.033 --> 00:37:34.293
Yeah.

607
00:37:34.593 --> 00:37:36.734
A world and a future worth having.

608
00:37:37.374 --> 00:37:38.215
I love that sentence.

609
00:37:39.417 --> 00:37:42.460
And this is what I talk about in the book, the Kid Astronaut Training Manual.

610
00:37:42.480 --> 00:37:52.953
This is the, this is the, and I want, all of these parents that are out there who love their kids, their students so much and do all this stuff to support them.

611
00:37:53.594 --> 00:37:53.854
Pro-

612
00:37:54.755 --> 00:37:55.715
Those are winners.

613
00:37:55.896 --> 00:37:58.357
Those are the ones that I understand.

614
00:37:58.577 --> 00:38:00.577
I needed more when I was a kid.

615
00:38:00.597 --> 00:38:02.498
That's one of the reasons I became who I am today.

616
00:38:02.718 --> 00:38:04.939
I didn't have the dad in my life that I needed.

617
00:38:04.979 --> 00:38:07.000
So I went out and found them as a grown-up.

618
00:38:08.261 --> 00:38:10.061
Mentors who were just amazing.

619
00:38:10.442 --> 00:38:10.702
Yeah.

620
00:38:11.222 --> 00:38:11.702
Well, yeah.

621
00:38:11.762 --> 00:38:14.943
Who did give you permission to believe in something this big in your life?

622
00:38:15.504 --> 00:38:16.624
Perfect strangers.

623
00:38:17.004 --> 00:38:17.885
Perfect strangers.

624
00:38:17.925 --> 00:38:19.165
Just random people.

625
00:38:19.205 --> 00:38:19.625
I love it.

626
00:38:19.645 --> 00:38:22.066
Not the TV show from the 80s.

627
00:38:22.126 --> 00:38:23.347
Not that perfect strangers.

628
00:38:23.767 --> 00:38:23.967
No.

629
00:38:24.428 --> 00:38:24.648
No.

630
00:38:24.908 --> 00:38:25.348
Humans.

631
00:38:26.769 --> 00:38:27.309
Just people.

632
00:38:27.750 --> 00:38:28.050
Yeah.

633
00:38:28.070 --> 00:38:29.151
Who I would talk to.

634
00:38:29.931 --> 00:38:38.417
And just on my adventures and travels and just important people in my life who took a moment to say...

635
00:38:39.238 --> 00:38:42.920
You could do it this way, but there's another way you can do it.

636
00:38:43.460 --> 00:38:46.201
And it's probably true to who you are and how you are.

637
00:38:46.521 --> 00:38:48.962
When I was 20, I wanted to be a rock star, really.

638
00:38:49.283 --> 00:38:50.323
I played keyboard.

639
00:38:50.363 --> 00:38:51.344
I was all about it.

640
00:38:51.784 --> 00:38:56.206
And this woman, Patricia Canely, took me in between colleges.

641
00:38:56.866 --> 00:39:01.308
And I was friends with her son who was at one of the colleges I went to.

642
00:39:02.348 --> 00:39:04.830
And she said, you're going to be a great teacher.

643
00:39:04.970 --> 00:39:05.930
And I was so offended.

644
00:39:06.070 --> 00:39:07.531
I was so offended, Iman.

645
00:39:08.151 --> 00:39:09.031
I was so mad.

646
00:39:09.231 --> 00:39:10.512
I'm a rock star.

647
00:39:10.592 --> 00:39:10.872
Yeah.

648
00:39:11.032 --> 00:39:12.272
I'm not going to be a teacher.

649
00:39:15.153 --> 00:39:15.433
Ego.

650
00:39:16.314 --> 00:39:16.574
Yeah.

651
00:39:16.894 --> 00:39:18.714
Well, we get it, especially when you're young.

652
00:39:18.734 --> 00:39:21.315
Yeah, it's the right time to be wrong.

653
00:39:21.595 --> 00:39:21.855
Yeah.

654
00:39:22.316 --> 00:39:23.616
And egotistical, I guess.

655
00:39:24.716 --> 00:39:25.937
Egocentric.

656
00:39:27.137 --> 00:39:29.978
It's less forgiving and less attractive the older you get.

657
00:39:32.590 --> 00:39:33.991
What are you building towards now?

658
00:39:34.031 --> 00:39:36.712
I mean, we're kind of coming to the end of our time here.

659
00:39:36.732 --> 00:39:40.713
So what is it right now that's exciting you and that you're building towards?

660
00:39:46.535 --> 00:39:52.978
I want you to know that the common held belief in the world today is that we're not going to make it.

661
00:39:54.138 --> 00:39:58.480
A commonly held belief in the world today is that we're not going to make it.

662
00:39:58.620 --> 00:40:01.001
And we're just biding time.

663
00:40:01.361 --> 00:40:01.641
Yeah.

664
00:40:02.666 --> 00:40:02.906
Okay.

665
00:40:04.167 --> 00:40:14.651
So in 98, I met a guy, Paul Stamets, and he is one of the leading mycologists in the world, mushrooms, at the Bioneers Conference in San Francisco.

666
00:40:15.511 --> 00:40:23.454
And he gave one of the keynotes, and he said to the room that he gave all the data to explain how it's already too late.

667
00:40:24.575 --> 00:40:25.515
And he did a good job.

668
00:40:26.255 --> 00:40:27.936
He devastated everybody in the room.

669
00:40:28.616 --> 00:40:29.196
Great job.

670
00:40:29.216 --> 00:40:30.597
This is a great...

671
00:40:36.463 --> 00:40:36.823
You're good.

672
00:40:39.524 --> 00:40:40.145
Three, two, one.

673
00:40:40.525 --> 00:40:43.186
Great speaker, good educator.

674
00:40:43.466 --> 00:40:46.248
And he didn't leave us there.

675
00:40:47.448 --> 00:40:56.152
What he left us was with a message that in hindsight, I can now say became do what I love with who I love and help others.

676
00:40:56.673 --> 00:41:03.836
He said, plant gardens, meet with friends, have tea.

677
00:41:06.125 --> 00:41:06.787
make cookies.

678
00:41:07.530 --> 00:41:07.751
Yeah.

679
00:41:07.931 --> 00:41:12.205
Like, he was like, do the thing that you really, like, enjoy time together.

680
00:41:12.566 --> 00:41:12.807
Yeah.

681
00:41:13.572 --> 00:41:19.674
And that, his understanding was that it is too late already.

682
00:41:21.815 --> 00:41:22.995
He's not the only one who said that.

683
00:41:23.555 --> 00:41:24.776
I've seen the science.

684
00:41:25.096 --> 00:41:28.877
The changing albedo of the planet is one of the most worrisome things.

685
00:41:28.917 --> 00:41:31.998
And I wouldn't have known that if I hadn't followed the work of Sian Proctor.

686
00:41:32.258 --> 00:41:39.700
But because of Earthlight, I now see that the albedo, which is the reflectivity of the planet, is changing in the last 100 years.

687
00:41:39.720 --> 00:41:39.880
Gosh.

688
00:41:42.367 --> 00:41:45.169
my hairline just racing back as I worry about this.

689
00:41:46.210 --> 00:41:47.892
And, and, uh,

690
00:41:49.915 --> 00:41:52.957
We can get caught up in that idea.

691
00:41:53.337 --> 00:41:54.118
Yeah.

692
00:41:54.138 --> 00:42:00.122
Or we can acknowledge, okay, so if this is the way that's going to go, what I'm going to do?

693
00:42:00.382 --> 00:42:01.543
What am I going to be doing?

694
00:42:01.943 --> 00:42:09.488
Kids, students will have had in the past frequently asked me if it was a zombie apocalypse, what would I do?

695
00:42:09.788 --> 00:42:10.109
Yeah.

696
00:42:10.709 --> 00:42:16.493
And so my answer was I would make, I would bake a cake.

697
00:42:18.388 --> 00:42:24.473
vanilla cake with vanilla frosting or chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, my favorites.

698
00:42:25.194 --> 00:42:27.115
And I would turn on the stereo.

699
00:42:27.496 --> 00:42:29.097
There's a band called CCR.

700
00:42:29.257 --> 00:42:33.220
I would put that on the, like, just some rock stuff.

701
00:42:34.141 --> 00:42:36.443
And I would open the front door.

702
00:42:36.463 --> 00:42:38.344
I would eat my cake.

703
00:42:38.364 --> 00:42:42.587
And I would eat for the zombies to get here because I'm not here for zombie apocalypse.

704
00:42:42.607 --> 00:42:42.888
Yeah.

705
00:42:43.548 --> 00:42:49.932
I'm here for family reunions, births, occasional deaths, graduations.

706
00:42:50.692 --> 00:42:51.713
I'm here for those things.

707
00:42:52.093 --> 00:42:52.373
Yeah.

708
00:42:53.574 --> 00:42:54.995
That's fair.

709
00:42:55.595 --> 00:42:56.136
Yeah.

710
00:42:56.156 --> 00:42:58.177
So enjoy the time we have together right now.

711
00:42:58.217 --> 00:43:03.860
And I won't be surprised if indeed it actually works out.

712
00:43:04.280 --> 00:43:04.521
Yeah.

713
00:43:05.501 --> 00:43:09.263
It's worked out for 4,000 plus years for humans.

714
00:43:09.483 --> 00:43:11.945
So, you know, it's not bad.

715
00:43:14.349 --> 00:43:19.412
There's a saying with police officers that criminals can get away 499 times.

716
00:43:19.432 --> 00:43:20.592
I only have to catch them once.

717
00:43:20.832 --> 00:43:21.273
That's right.

718
00:43:21.353 --> 00:43:26.435
And so maybe with that number that you just gave, we made it this far.

719
00:43:26.475 --> 00:43:27.456
We made it this far.

720
00:43:27.676 --> 00:43:28.917
Hopefully it doesn't catch us.

721
00:43:28.957 --> 00:43:29.617
It might be that.

722
00:43:29.697 --> 00:43:30.197
Yeah, yeah.

723
00:43:30.438 --> 00:43:31.478
That meteorite's coming.

724
00:43:32.679 --> 00:43:33.719
Okay, last question.

725
00:43:33.799 --> 00:43:35.981
So, you know, this is a heart for space.

726
00:43:36.841 --> 00:43:42.424
And we ask every guest this, but what is the space inside yourself or out in the world that you're still reaching for?

727
00:43:46.255 --> 00:43:50.239
I have the conversations like this, Iman, because I like connecting with other people.

728
00:43:50.599 --> 00:43:53.201
Like it's, it's a quality time for me.

729
00:43:54.082 --> 00:43:54.302
Yeah.

730
00:43:54.322 --> 00:44:04.491
You are an important person to me and you taking the opportunity, the time to have a conversation with me about the thing I, the things I love most.

731
00:44:05.547 --> 00:44:24.910
celebrating budding human beings so that they can be they can become grown-ups like us and our peers yeah doing what they love with who they love and helping others is the best thing in the entire world i just work at getting making it more fun being better at it yeah

732
00:44:26.550 --> 00:44:26.770
Yeah.

733
00:44:27.311 --> 00:44:32.174
Finding greater fulfillment and greater joy and greater success at doing this exact same thing.

734
00:44:33.295 --> 00:44:33.675
Yes, sir.

735
00:44:34.156 --> 00:44:34.536
I love it.

736
00:44:34.756 --> 00:44:35.337
That's awesome.

737
00:44:35.877 --> 00:44:36.618
Well, thank you, Mike.

738
00:44:36.698 --> 00:44:38.919
I truly appreciate you joining us today.

739
00:44:40.020 --> 00:44:48.827
I know I will be talking to you soon offline, but I'm glad our listeners got a little opportunity to hear about you, about the work you're doing and about your life philosophy.

740
00:44:49.598 --> 00:44:51.499
Iman, do you know a guy named Andrew Paris?

741
00:44:51.999 --> 00:44:53.640
I do know a guy named Andrew Paris.

742
00:44:53.900 --> 00:44:54.601
Yes, yes.

743
00:44:54.681 --> 00:44:55.721
He's been on this show.

744
00:44:56.402 --> 00:44:56.802
He has?

745
00:44:57.222 --> 00:44:57.442
Yes.

746
00:44:57.742 --> 00:45:00.224
Listen, that guy, people don't know it.

747
00:45:00.784 --> 00:45:01.585
Like he's in his 60s.

748
00:45:01.645 --> 00:45:02.565
I don't know.

749
00:45:02.665 --> 00:45:03.065
He's great.

750
00:45:03.306 --> 00:45:06.367
And he is, I love his passion.

751
00:45:06.527 --> 00:45:09.609
I love how much he embodies what it is I'm talking about.

752
00:45:09.709 --> 00:45:10.009
Yeah.

753
00:45:10.249 --> 00:45:12.631
Like he supports and helps so many people.

754
00:45:12.771 --> 00:45:14.872
And who knew that?

755
00:45:15.332 --> 00:45:16.733
Like just watching it from the side.

756
00:45:19.328 --> 00:45:25.192
I will say so many of us got our, I think, what's the word?

757
00:45:25.672 --> 00:45:29.335
Like our second boost, like our reawakening with Inspiration4.

758
00:45:29.355 --> 00:45:44.345
Because I know that that started his journey in this part of his life where he has been very prominent and outspoken and supportive in other people in chasing that passion that is space that many of us love.

759
00:45:45.005 --> 00:45:54.073
Getting to have this conversation with a person like that and then all of the people that he nurtures and nourishes and that flourish around him.

760
00:45:54.614 --> 00:45:58.958
I pour water into one human being and suddenly there's a whole garden growing up because of it.

761
00:45:58.978 --> 00:46:00.819
It's just like because I celebrated.

762
00:46:00.839 --> 00:46:01.740
I'm like, you can do it.

763
00:46:01.760 --> 00:46:02.421
You're the guy.

764
00:46:02.441 --> 00:46:02.941
You're the guy.

765
00:46:02.981 --> 00:46:04.082
And so he's like, I am the guy.

766
00:46:04.903 --> 00:46:06.763
And then also, it's amazing.

767
00:46:06.823 --> 00:46:07.764
Yeah, it's awesome.

768
00:46:07.884 --> 00:46:08.484
It's good to see.

769
00:46:08.504 --> 00:46:12.305
It's always fun to see the success of the people that are working hard, right?

770
00:46:12.325 --> 00:46:13.725
And that's part of what this show is for.

771
00:46:13.765 --> 00:46:14.785
You know, you got to have heart.

772
00:46:14.885 --> 00:46:20.567
You got to strive for those difficult things because if you don't, if you give up, it's not going to happen.

773
00:46:20.587 --> 00:46:22.567
And if you don't support each other, it's not going to happen.

774
00:46:22.647 --> 00:46:24.268
So that's the best message there is.

775
00:46:25.088 --> 00:46:25.708
Well, thank you, Mike.

776
00:46:26.583 --> 00:46:27.164
Thanks, Iman.

777
00:46:28.145 --> 00:46:28.885
Space for the heart.

778
00:46:29.246 --> 00:46:29.766
Talk soon.

779
00:46:30.727 --> 00:46:31.408
Heart for space.

780
00:46:31.769 --> 00:46:32.449
Heart for space.

781
00:46:33.150 --> 00:46:35.232
Thank you for listening to A Heart for Space.

782
00:46:35.893 --> 00:46:40.478
If you enjoyed this conversation, be sure to follow the show so you never miss an episode.

783
00:46:40.898 --> 00:46:43.681
And consider leaving us a review to let us know your thoughts.

784
00:46:44.382 --> 00:46:51.786
For more on my work in the pursuit of ambitious goals, visit aheartforspace.com and look out for my upcoming book, A Heart for Space.

785
00:46:52.046 --> 00:46:54.488
Until next time, I'm Dr. Iman Jahangir.

786
00:46:54.968 --> 00:47:00.251
And remember, sometimes the only obstacle to achieving an impossible dream is the courage to keep going.