WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.000
Hi. I'm Mike Mullane. I'm a former astronaut. I flew three times on the space shuttle.

00:00:06.000 --> 00:00:25.000
Music.

00:00:25.000 --> 00:00:31.000
I wanted to be an astronaut the first moment I heard the word, and I was a child of the space race.

00:00:31.000 --> 00:00:38.000
I was 12 years old in 1957 when Sputnik was launched, and that certainly excited me about the idea of flying in space.

00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:43.000
I was fortunate enough to be growing up in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Great night skies out there.

00:00:43.000 --> 00:00:47.000
I could go out and watch satellites coming across the sky and, and I wanted to be in one.

00:00:47.000 --> 00:00:52.000
And of course, as soon as Al Shepard and Gus Grissom and John Glenn started making their rides,

00:00:52.000 --> 00:00:57.000
I was glued to the TV and I wanted to do it someday myself.

00:00:57.000 --> 00:01:02.000
Well, I had to consider another career path when I was told I couldn't be a pilot in 1967.

00:01:02.000 --> 00:01:08.000
I graduated West Point in 1967 and I couldn't be a pilot because my eyes were bad,

00:01:08.000 --> 00:01:16.000
and you had to be a pilot to be an astronaut back then. So I, my career path at that point was in the backseat of fighter jets.

00:01:16.000 --> 00:01:22.000
I wanted to fly and that was, that was the only option I had to fly -- in fighters, in the back of fighters.

00:01:22.000 --> 00:01:29.000
And I intended, ultimately, in some capacity to come to work at NASA -- obviously not as an astronaut, because I wasn't a pilot.

00:01:29.000 --> 00:01:36.000
And then it was in 1978, '77, actually, NASA announced that they're selecting mission specialists for the Space Shuttle Program.

00:01:36.000 --> 00:01:46.000
They don't have to be pilots, so that opened up that door to me again and I, soon as I heard that, I had my application in.

00:01:46.000 --> 00:01:55.000
My parents were my inspiration in my life. My Dad was a hero and my Mom was a hero, and, and truly inspired me.

00:01:55.000 --> 00:02:04.000
My Dad was crippled with polio in 1955 when he was 33 years old, never walked again. They had six kids to raise.

00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:09.000
My Mom and Dad were, were true heroes; they stayed focused on the family, they,

00:02:09.000 --> 00:02:15.000
they gave it all to make sure we all had a great education and gave us all the love and encouragement we needed.

00:02:15.000 --> 00:02:22.000
So I can't speak highly enough about my, my parents. In my early life, they were my heroes. They were my inspiration.

00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:30.000
And later, my wife was a great partner along the way to have this dream come true.

00:02:30.000 --> 00:02:38.000
When I was chosen to be an astronaut, I was, I was thrilled beyond belief. I, i had come, I had been interviewed.

00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:44.000
I was one of about 200 people that were interviewing for the first astronaut, first space shuttle astronaut group.

00:02:44.000 --> 00:02:50.000
I went out into the desert, laid back on the hood of the, hood of the car and just watched the stars

00:02:50.000 --> 00:02:55.000
and just dreamed that someday I was going to be up there and it looked a lot closer and when

00:02:55.000 --> 00:03:00.000
I now had that call that I was going to be an astronaut.

00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:06.000
It's a frightening experience, but at the same time, it is a, it is an incredibly joyful experience,

00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:12.000
because it's something I had been dreaming about for 25 years. And there it was happening.

00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:22.000
The hold-down bolts blow and I'm now on my way. And as scared as I was, I had a smile on my face during that ride.

00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:27.000
One of the most memorable moments was seeing the Earth for the first time from orbit,

00:03:27.000 --> 00:03:33.000
and it is a beautiful, beautiful, incredible sight to see this -- we don't see the Earth as a ball, we're too close to it.

00:03:33.000 --> 00:03:38.000
It fills the windows, but we can see that it's curved, and it's black of space,

00:03:38.000 --> 00:03:42.000
you've got the blue of the ocean, the white swirls of the clouds, and it was just breathtaking.

00:03:42.000 --> 00:03:47.000
I, I wasn't prepared for it. I'd heard everybody talk about it, seen all the photos astronauts had taken,

00:03:47.000 --> 00:03:55.000
but I wasn't prepared for that incredible beauty that your own eye is able to detect.

00:03:55.000 --> 00:04:00.000
First of all, it was a very difficult decision, to decide that I want to move on in my life.

00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:08.000
I had flown three times in space. The burden on the family was certainly severe; the fear factor for the spouse,

00:04:08.000 --> 00:04:12.000
for my wife and for my children. I decided that, yeah, after my last, my third mission,

00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:19.000
that that would be my last mission and I would go on and do something else.

00:04:19.000 --> 00:04:27.000
Since I left NASA, most of my business has been public speaking. I do a teamwork and leadership program for corporations around,

00:04:27.000 --> 00:04:32.000
around the country -- conventions, meeting, training, that type of, those type of meetings.

00:04:32.000 --> 00:04:41.000
I've also written some, some books -- a children's book, a space fact book, a memoir of, of my life.

00:04:41.000 --> 00:04:47.000
And so it's writing and speaking is what I've been doing since I left NASA.

00:04:47.000 --> 00:04:53.000
So I tell kids, I tell adults: do your best because you don't know what's out in the future.

00:04:53.000 --> 00:04:58.000
There's going to be opportunities that'll appear that you can't possibly imagine right now,

00:04:58.000 --> 00:05:02.000
and if you do your best now, you're going to be able to take advantage of those opportunities.

00:05:02.000 --> 00:05:10.000
So that's really an important life lesson there. I think, also, challenging yourself in the extreme. Don't be timid in your goal setting.

00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:19.000
The only way you find out what you're truly capable of doing is if you challenge yourself in the extreme.

00:05:19.000 --> 00:05:25.000
For anybody that is watching me right now that is a young person who's thinking someday of becoming an astronaut,

00:05:25.000 --> 00:05:30.000
my advice to them is: make sure you get a great education.

00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:35.000
But don't just concentrate on math and science, you've got to get a great education in all aspects.

00:05:35.000 --> 00:05:41.000
The other thing is, do your best at everything constantly. It's going to count in your future, just as it did for me, just as it does,

00:05:41.000 --> 00:05:48.000
does for everybody. Take care of the only body you're ever going to get. And just dream big, too. That's the other thing,

00:05:48.000 --> 00:05:54.000
is make sure you challenge yourself. Set very lofty goals for yourself. Don't worry what other people have done with their life.

00:05:54.000 --> 00:06:11.000
You have your own life. Challenge yourself. Set your own goals and work for them.

00:06:11.000 --> 00:06:16.000