We explore space because that is the
human condition. We are always trying to
learn more.
My name is Josh Cassada and I'm the
pilot for NASA's SpaceX Crew-5 Mission
to the International Space Station.
I was born in California but I was
raised in White Bear Lake Minnesota. In
high school I really really enjoyed and
did well at math and that's actually
what drove me to wanting to study
physics in in college was to understand
the bigger picture and really how the
universe works and operates. I got both
my masters and PhD and studied with an
incredible team at Fermilab. Doing high
energy particle physics at Fermilab we
collide protons and anti-protons at
nearly the speed of light. The
interesting part of particle physics is
this is how we understand what's
happening at the fundamental building
blocks of nature.
At the conclusion of my graduate atudies
at Fermilab I had an opportunity to join
the U.S Navy and fly for the Navy and I
absolutely took it.
The Navy has been really good to me but
it was it was a shift in culture for
sure. I have flown over 4 000 hours in
over 45 aircraft and what that allows
you to do is just be ready for
whatever's coming next and know that
you're going to have to think on your
feet. There is a link between aviation
and physics and for me that link is just
being ready for the unexpected. You have
to be prepared for everything that might
be thrown at you. You need to be able to
look at problems in very different ways
and so I thought man being an astronaut
kind of merges all of those things.
NASA says it's accepting applications
for new astronauts of the roughly 3 500
applicants NASA is expecting only about
15 will be selected for training. And so
I had applied for this position at Nasa
I'll be honest I had no intention of
getting it. You know you don't win the
lottery if you don't buy a ticket so I
I gave it a shot and when I got that
call my family and my friends we
couldn't be more excited to be a part of
this amazing amazing experience. And I'll
tell you I am just so honored and
humbled to be a part of this NASA team
and to be able to contribute to the next
generation of exploration and science.
I couldn't be more lucky than to fly
with crew 5. For me going to space is an
opportunity to do my job. We've been
training and preparing for a long time
and to be honest that's my priority is
to get up there and do what we've been
trained to do. And the science is an
incredibly exciting part of that for me
too. That's why we explore space. We do
things that make this world worthwhile.