Latest / Made of Stars / Astronaut Cady Coleman Joins Us

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Astronaut Cady Coleman Joins Us · Made of Stars

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Speaker 1: Warning. The following podcast contains an entertaining look at astronomy, physics,
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Speaker 1: and space news throughout the known universe. Listeners have been
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Speaker 1: known to learn about astronomical phenomenon, the scientific method, and
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Speaker 1: expanded vocabulary to include terms like quasar asterism and uranus. Listen,
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Speaker 1: that's your own risk.
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Speaker 2: Go ahead.
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Speaker 3: When made of stars, made them stars, madies. When made
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Speaker 3: of stars, you could be from high they would new Mexicomas.
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Speaker 3: Where a stars?
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Speaker 4: When we are made of stars.
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Speaker 5: I'm Wes Carrol and I'm doctor Sean Cruising from Columbus
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Speaker 5: State University's Coca Cola Space Science Center. We're excited because
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Speaker 5: this week we are joined by retired astronaut and author
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Speaker 5: Katie Coleman. Welcome to the show.
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Speaker 2: Thank you. I'm excited to talk to you guys.
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Speaker 5: I am looking forward to seeing you at dragon Con.
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Speaker 5: You're going to be part of a growing space contingency
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Speaker 5: that is going to be at dragon Con this year.
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Speaker 5: Folks from NASA will be there, Folks from Marshall will
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Speaker 5: be there on hand. And Sean and I have been
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Speaker 5: talking a lot over the past few weeks about this
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Speaker 5: sort of circular relationship between science and science fiction and
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Speaker 5: I guess that's a big part of why you guys
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Speaker 5: are all going to be there. If you could talk
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Speaker 5: just a little bit about you know, science and science
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Speaker 5: fiction and how those two have an impact on each other.
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Speaker 2: Well, I'm a guest and to still be my very
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Speaker 2: first time to go. But one of the reasons I'm
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Speaker 2: so excited about it is that I really believe that
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Speaker 2: coming together at that intersection in science fiction fantasy and
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Speaker 2: just using your imagination and realizing that you could be
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Speaker 2: a part of new discoveries and new ideas. I mean,
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Speaker 2: that is the most powerful point in the universe, I think,
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Speaker 2: and I especially love, you know, as as a woman
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Speaker 2: in science and as a woman astronaut, I really love
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Speaker 2: the fact that by if we just look at the
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Speaker 2: news and we look at what's reported on the news,
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Speaker 2: there's a lot of people that don't get to see
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Speaker 2: themselves in these exciting jobs, whether it's as astrophysicists and astronomers,
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Speaker 2: or as astronauts or you know, any number of explorers.
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Speaker 2: You know, explorers and science, and I think that you
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Speaker 2: know fiction and these stories they help us understand that hey,
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Speaker 2: this could be you, or this is what this all
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Speaker 2: is all about, and maybe you could play a part
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Speaker 2: in it, and can I I don't know. I'll pick
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Speaker 2: up more time. But I have to share that when
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Speaker 2: the Martian movie came out, we in the astrona office.
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Speaker 2: They picked new astronauts every couple of years, and in
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Speaker 2: nineteen ninety two when I got selected, there was about
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Speaker 2: twenty four hundred people that applied, and you know, kind
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Speaker 2: of went up that way, and by the time I
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Speaker 2: got to like two thousand, and I don't know whatever
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Speaker 2: six it was, it was about six thousand people and
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Speaker 2: I having my dates fixed up. But if we figure
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Speaker 2: out when the Martian movie came out, basically it was
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Speaker 2: about six thousand applicants that were applying every time NASA
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Speaker 2: said who would like to join us? The Martian movie
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Speaker 2: came out in eighteen thousand people submitted their applications. And
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Speaker 2: I think it's because this movie showed people that going
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Speaker 2: to Mars could be real and they could be a
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Speaker 2: part of it. If they wanted to be, they had
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Speaker 2: better put their hand up now. And the only caveat
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Speaker 2: I'll give is that I think the movie and it
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Speaker 2: and the author knows that I say this. I think
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Speaker 2: the movie would be perfect if the hero or the
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Speaker 2: heroine on Mars was a was a woman, because then
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Speaker 2: we'd be checking every single box of having people really
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Speaker 2: understand that they are included, and especially if it was
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Speaker 2: a woman of color.
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Speaker 5: You mentioned Mars and being able to move in that direction.
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Speaker 5: Sean and I were just at Kennedy Space Center for
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Speaker 5: the arrival of the core stage for the Artemis two mission,
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Speaker 5: and of course that is the next step towards getting
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Speaker 5: humans back on the surface of the Moon and then
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Speaker 5: eventually obviously working our way towards Mars. The diversity that
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Speaker 5: you're talking about will be part of this moon landing
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Speaker 5: mission that's coming. So I know everyone at Kennedy, and
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Speaker 5: I guess really probably all around the country that is
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Speaker 5: aware of what's going on with the Artemis mission. There
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Speaker 5: was an electricity. I mean, there was excitement there just
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Speaker 5: at seeing this core stage arrive. What are your thoughts
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Speaker 5: on sort of this next stage. How do you feel
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Speaker 5: knowing that this is what's coming down the line for astronauts.
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Speaker 2: Well, I hope that it can become real to people.
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Speaker 2: As you said, you know, when they figure out that
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Speaker 2: it's real, they're really excited, and they should be excited,
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Speaker 2: because it is real. It's going to happen. It takes
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Speaker 2: more patience than any of us would like, but people,
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Speaker 2: real people are going to go and walk on the Moon.
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Speaker 2: And NASA is very committed to having that fee to
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Speaker 2: include the first woman and the first person of color.
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Speaker 2: And I have pictures that I took at the Automist
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Speaker 2: one launch where this Artomist one was a spacecraft with
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Speaker 2: no people in it, but it had a camera and
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Speaker 2: it sent us back pictures of what the people could
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Speaker 2: see and what the spacecraft was seeing. And I have
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Speaker 2: pictures all the way from just standing at launch and watching,
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Speaker 2: you know, seeing the crowd and everyone is just like
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Speaker 2: they're looking up and Artemis is launching. It's this bright
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Speaker 2: spot and it's racing towards the Moon, which you can
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Speaker 2: also see, which of course is very very far a
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Speaker 2: way that you see bright lights up in the sky
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Speaker 2: and people have their phones up and there's just this
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Speaker 2: certain intensity that you can see just from these iPhone pictures.
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Speaker 2: And then to look at the images that the spacecraft
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Speaker 2: sent back where you see, you know, our Earth with
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Speaker 2: sort of the wing of the spacecraft, you know, and
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Speaker 2: they're a solar ray wing in the in the shot
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Speaker 2: and realize that real people on Artemus too, for real
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Speaker 2: people are going to see that view and they themselves
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Speaker 2: will be forever change that. I think they bring a
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Speaker 2: lot of us with them.
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Speaker 4: That's a great point.
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Speaker 5: And you were part of this movie, this documentary Space
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Speaker 5: the Longest Goodbye, and it dives into this idea about
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Speaker 5: that extended trip because anytime, obviously you're off planet, which
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Speaker 5: is something that most people on Earth can't comprehend. You
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Speaker 5: understand that because you've done that, But when you start
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Speaker 5: talking about the isolation of a trip to Mars and
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Speaker 5: how long that's going to take when we eventually get there,
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Speaker 5: and if you could talk just a little bit about
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Speaker 5: your time, I mean, you had almost six months stay
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Speaker 5: on the International Space Station doing important things, but you're
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Speaker 5: also a wife and a mother, and that's all part
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Speaker 5: of this documentary.
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Speaker 2: Well, I like to I actually love this documentary because
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Speaker 2: I think it shows that astronauts are pretty human and
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Speaker 2: we are balancing some of the same things that other
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Speaker 2: people have, maybe in a different place and maybe with
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Speaker 2: some different stakes, but you know, balancing you know, your
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Speaker 2: family missions with things that are your passions, that are
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Speaker 2: your other missions. It's hard for everybody and I did
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Speaker 2: love actually living up on the space station, and I
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Speaker 2: didn't really want to come home, which my family now
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Speaker 2: knows because I said it in the movie. But I
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Speaker 2: would have stayed another six months. Six months in a minute.
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Speaker 2: And when I got home, they were looking for volunteers
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Speaker 2: for the year long mission, and I I had my
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Speaker 2: hand up, just partly because it picked me for this job,
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Speaker 2: which I felt very fortunate for. But it felt like
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Speaker 2: once you get trained and you're good at it, you
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Speaker 2: just really want to contribute. You want to be part
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Speaker 2: of that. And I have this certain confidence that will
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Speaker 2: make it back, you know, from all those trips, and
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Speaker 2: at the same time, all of us, including the Famili's understandings,
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Speaker 2: a lot of us involved, and I think that movie
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Speaker 2: does a good job at looking at all those things
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Speaker 2: that when we go, we don't go alone to bring
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Speaker 2: a lot of people with it.
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Speaker 5: Katie, this is Sean again, so thank you again for
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Speaker 5: talking to us today. I want to just ask you
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Speaker 5: a couple of questions that are in my mind tied together,
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Speaker 5: and one of those is a follow up to what
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Speaker 5: you just talked about with kind of long duration spaceflight,
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Speaker 5: not to get into the mechanical aspects of Starliner. But
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Speaker 5: what is it like for those astronauts to go up
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Speaker 5: with an expectation of a certain stay on the space
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Speaker 5: station and then you know, through some means out of
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Speaker 5: their control, they end up with a much longer stay.
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Speaker 5: And then maybe a follow up to that is the
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Speaker 5: idea of people in space in general. There's a large
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Speaker 5: debate among the scientific community about whether or not to
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Speaker 5: do robotic space exploration or actually send humans out there.
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Speaker 5: We hear Space scient Center kind of feel like it's
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Speaker 5: important for actual human beings to go on these missions.
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Speaker 5: It's sort of a shared experience. But I would love
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Speaker 5: to have your thoughts on both of those points.
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Speaker 2: Well, I was actually thinking of Sunny and but who
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Speaker 2: are up there with their buying spacecraft? And if you've
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Speaker 2: seen any of the video of them in space, I
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Speaker 2: think you have your answer, which is that first of all,
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Speaker 2: they're busy working, and second they have like the biggest
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Speaker 2: grins imaginable on their faces. I mean, I can't speak
9:37
Speaker 2: for them, but I know that you know, to find
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Speaker 2: out that my eight day mission that I knew might
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Speaker 2: become eight months, might actually become eight months, it would
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Speaker 2: be a pretty joyful thing for me. I mean that
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Speaker 2: doesn't mean that I don't miss being home, and it's
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Speaker 2: not a struggle to realize that maybe things would be
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Speaker 2: better or different or when you're not contributing as much
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Speaker 2: at home, although we all try to be pretty creative
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Speaker 2: about being present, you know, from low Earth orbit. So
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Speaker 2: I don't know, I from what I understand, the crew
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Speaker 2: and the ground crew are. I think they're all glad
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Speaker 2: that they're taking the time they need to look at
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Speaker 2: all the options they've got and actually the data on
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Speaker 2: this spacecraft which is our new you know, spacecraft to
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Speaker 2: go to the space station. They need this as a backup,
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Speaker 2: They need it as a backup they can be confident in.
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Speaker 2: And so taking this time to really look at the
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Speaker 2: data that they take it on the ground figuring out
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Speaker 2: what that means for how that spacecraft is going to
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Speaker 2: behave on the way home for Sonny and Butch. I
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Speaker 2: mean they feel good enough about it that if there
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Speaker 2: was an emergency right now in the second, they would
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Speaker 2: send Sunny and Butch home in on spacecraft. So we
10:39
Speaker 2: know that. So I think everybody feels good about getting
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Speaker 2: worked about, you know, looking at doing the right thing
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Speaker 2: for a flight test. But the other thing is that.
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Speaker 2: I mean, there is a to do list a mile
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Speaker 2: long upon that space station that never gets done. It's
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Speaker 2: like down here, like organizing your attic. I mean, when
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Speaker 2: is that really the thing that you do? And how
10:57
Speaker 2: often does it each your lunch? I say this because
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Speaker 2: we have people coming this weekend and my lunch has
11:02
Speaker 2: been eaten, so you know. But now that's son and
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Speaker 2: you're up there. They are. They are with two extra
11:09
Speaker 2: so capable hands. They've been there before. They are decimating
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Speaker 2: that to do lists, and that means it's a whole
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Speaker 2: new era for clients up there, and that this backlog
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Speaker 2: is getting done and we can proceed with more of
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Speaker 2: what's really on the Earth scientist's place.
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Speaker 5: Now that the private company aspect of space travel has
11:31
Speaker 5: gotten into the mix, we've seen some retired astronauts that
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Speaker 5: have been enlisted for missions. You sounded like you sounded
11:40
Speaker 5: like you were anxious to go back. You know, if
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Speaker 5: this opportunity came along, would your hand go up again?
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Speaker 2: I have signs at every door or window that someone
11:50
Speaker 2: might look in at it. Yes, okay, I'm just but no,
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Speaker 2: I would. I would love to go. And I also
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Speaker 2: love beeing, and I still feel like I'm sorry much.
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Speaker 2: A part of the mission of exploration, which includes making
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Speaker 2: what we do real enough to people that people down
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Speaker 2: here is that they understand why this is part of
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Speaker 2: what we do as humans, and that it's something they
12:15
Speaker 2: should feel good about their tax pifellers being sent on.
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Speaker 2: And I kind of I think answers your other question
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Speaker 2: that I forgot to answer, which is robotics versus people,
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Speaker 2: And the answer is always being more inclusive, being more
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Speaker 2: inclusive of like private space light commercial space lights, because
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Speaker 2: they bring benefits that the government organizations don't have. It's
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Speaker 2: you know, specifically, I think commercial organizations, when they don't
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Speaker 2: have people on board, can take bigger chances with hardware,
12:46
Speaker 2: bigger risks, and by eliminating some of those risks or
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Speaker 2: making them narrower, they bring they leave drug everybody with
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Speaker 2: them ahead towards the time we do put humans on
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Speaker 2: the spacecraft. So that's with commercial space but also ways
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Speaker 2: in robotics. I mean, I certainly as a humans do
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Speaker 2: not want to go to Mars until we know as
13:07
Speaker 2: much as is practical about it before we send people.
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Speaker 2: I mean, you know, we need to figure out how
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Speaker 2: to grow things there or the soil or you know,
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Speaker 2: the atmosphere, how to live there, and we have a
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Speaker 2: lot of knowledge, and I would just have a spacecraft
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Speaker 2: that doesn't need to eat breakfast, collecting that data and
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Speaker 2: getting as all as body as we need to be
13:27
Speaker 2: as space as we could be before we go. And
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Speaker 2: I think a lot of people are in that. I
13:33
Speaker 2: think I think these conferences actually I mean getting back
13:35
Speaker 2: to dragon Callus, I mean I think that having the
13:39
Speaker 2: mass of people there, having space scientists there, enthusiasts and
13:43
Speaker 2: people and lots of scientists and writers and creative people.
13:48
Speaker 2: I mean the NATSA people don't get to run into
13:51
Speaker 2: them in their buildings and there's you know, there's always
13:53
Speaker 2: something to do in the next meeting. And I mean
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Speaker 2: it's hard to work within the government. It's challenging, but
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Speaker 2: it's necessary to do to it. And I know for me,
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Speaker 2: as the government person is going to things like this,
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Speaker 2: I came back energized, excited, really more hopeful that there
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Speaker 2: was a different way to think about doing things, that
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Speaker 2: we could get further, and that we should invite more
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Speaker 2: people into the conversation. So we'll have to see what
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Speaker 2: comes out of Dragon con.
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Speaker 5: That's a great answer. Thank you for sharing that, you know,
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Speaker 5: part of our mission here at Columbus State University is
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Speaker 5: inspiring that next generation of scientists and engineers and space explorers.
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Speaker 5: We have a Department of Earth and Space Science, which
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Speaker 5: I am a faculty member in, and then we also
14:38
Speaker 5: have our Department of Robotics Engineering, and so a lot
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Speaker 5: of the interns and the students that I get to
14:44
Speaker 5: come in contact with, they have dreams of going to
14:47
Speaker 5: space or at least being involved in the space program.
14:50
Speaker 5: And I wonder just quickly if you could, you know,
14:52
Speaker 5: share some advice for these dreamers who really want to
14:55
Speaker 5: be part of the space endeavor, whether it's you know,
14:57
Speaker 5: through NASA or a commercial company or entity. What kind
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Speaker 5: of advice would you give to them, or what kind
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Speaker 5: of a direction or pointers might you share with them.
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Speaker 2: I think learning about I mean astronaut, what astronauts do
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Speaker 2: is they learn new things every day, and scientists do
15:16
Speaker 2: the same thing. Like I think, it's just part of
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Speaker 2: the job, and it's a part of things that people love,
15:21
Speaker 2: even though it can be humbling, and so learning everything
15:25
Speaker 2: that interests you just you know, asking people what they
15:28
Speaker 2: do and why they like it, And I think you
15:29
Speaker 2: run into people like that at places like your science
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Speaker 2: center and at a university, when they invite the community
15:37
Speaker 2: and you run into folks that are eager to share
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Speaker 2: the things they know. And I like the title of
15:42
Speaker 2: your department where it says you know, Earth and Space science.
15:46
Speaker 2: Where I mean, if somebody likes to understand volcanoes, it's
15:49
Speaker 2: going to be just as excited about studying them on
15:51
Speaker 2: Earth as they are studying them on Marks and vice versa.
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Speaker 2: And if you think about what I just said, you
15:58
Speaker 2: can realize that whether the place that you're telecommuting from
16:03
Speaker 2: is lower orbits or Mars, or get back down here
16:07
Speaker 2: on Earth, we're actually still all of us on the
16:10
Speaker 2: same channel. And I think these kids will get that
16:13
Speaker 2: because they see discoveries from things that are far away.
16:17
Speaker 2: They see just conversations with astronauts, they see astrophysics astrophysicists
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Speaker 2: being very human and passionate. And so I know I
16:25
Speaker 2: was long winded, but the bottom line for my advice
16:28
Speaker 2: is that there's not any particular thing they need to
16:30
Speaker 2: study but the basics, certainly, you know, science, maths. Please
16:35
Speaker 2: put writing in there, Please put speaking, getting your ideas across,
16:39
Speaker 2: storytelling in there, so those things are really necessary. It
16:43
Speaker 2: almost doesn't matter what field you decide to start with. First,
16:48
Speaker 2: I try not to ask them what they're going to do,
16:49
Speaker 2: I asked. I try to ask them what's the next, because,
16:53
Speaker 2: you know, and all three of us here on the radio,
16:56
Speaker 2: I mean, there's been a lot of next for us.
16:58
Speaker 2: You know, we've done a lot of different things that'll
17:00
Speaker 2: happen to these kids. Two into the question what should
17:02
Speaker 2: I study? What should I do? Be yourself, follow your passion,
17:07
Speaker 2: and make sure you've covered the basics.
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Speaker 5: Sean, and I like to point out that there's so
17:12
Speaker 5: many of these career paths that ultimately tie in back
17:17
Speaker 5: into the space program. And you mentioned obviously geology in there.
17:21
Speaker 5: I've got a twelve year old who aspires to be
17:23
Speaker 5: a meteorologist, and I kind of nudge him every now
17:25
Speaker 5: and then, I say, you know, space meteorology is a
17:28
Speaker 5: thing now, you know, because we've actually got you know,
17:32
Speaker 5: we're testing climate conditions and things on Mars now. So
17:38
Speaker 5: I try to nudge him in that direction. And I
17:40
Speaker 5: want to talk a little bit about your book, because
17:42
Speaker 5: in your book you talk about challenges that you faced
17:46
Speaker 5: along your path to get there. So challenges can be
17:51
Speaker 5: specific to your time at NASA, but you also talk
17:54
Speaker 5: about how there's lessons from that that apply to us
17:57
Speaker 5: here on Earth.
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Speaker 2: Well, the reason I wrote that book is that life
18:04
Speaker 2: is still challenging for a person who, you know, here's
18:09
Speaker 2: a little voice inside themself that says, hey, maybe you
18:12
Speaker 2: could do this thing, and it's just an't I mean,
18:14
Speaker 2: it's whatever saying is really important to them. And if
18:17
Speaker 2: it's important to them, that means that it really means something.
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Speaker 2: And they're a little bit vulnerable in that way, and
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Speaker 2: it's still not an equal playing field that everyone feels
18:28
Speaker 2: invited in and let alone cherished right. And that's why
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Speaker 2: I wrote the book, is I you know, I look
18:34
Speaker 2: back and I was like, wow, you know, these things
18:37
Speaker 2: still happen where you know, I mean for me. For example,
18:40
Speaker 2: for me, I'm a smaller person. And in space walking,
18:43
Speaker 2: they eliminated the small of the space suits, a small
18:46
Speaker 2: suit which actually affected about a third of the women,
18:49
Speaker 2: and so you had to be able to operate in
18:51
Speaker 2: a figure suit. And I had a choice to make
18:53
Speaker 2: do I say, wait a minute, you know this just
18:56
Speaker 2: sounds completely not right. Where is my not mine? You know,
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Speaker 2: where is the small space suit that I can operate
19:02
Speaker 2: in and I think they would say, you know, you're right,
19:05
Speaker 2: it's not right, and why don't you just wait right there?
19:07
Speaker 2: And as soon as we have that space sucit is
19:09
Speaker 2: ready for you, we will let you know and then
19:11
Speaker 2: you can go. And I'd still be sitting there pretty much.
19:14
Speaker 2: Just in the last couple of years, have the people
19:16
Speaker 2: who could not make the medium suit work? Have we
19:19
Speaker 2: been seeing them on spacecraft? So I would have waited,
19:23
Speaker 2: you know, ten years or so to fly. And so
19:27
Speaker 2: how do we make change? How do you fight against
19:29
Speaker 2: things that people need to People need to sort of
19:32
Speaker 2: open their eyes and realize that we just we can't
19:35
Speaker 2: afford as a planet that has these challenges to solve.
19:38
Speaker 2: We cannot afford to leave people out of the conversation.
19:42
Speaker 2: People that when they open their mouths, they say things
19:44
Speaker 2: that we don't expect, and some of them aren't speaking
19:47
Speaker 2: their writing. I mean, everyone expresses themselves different ways, but
19:50
Speaker 2: when they say things that we don't expect, like what's that?
19:54
Speaker 2: And you think, well, I mean, we're trying to solve
19:56
Speaker 2: the problem. What are they talking about? They want to
19:57
Speaker 2: write a play, maybe a Broadway play that a gazillion
20:00
Speaker 2: people would see and that's how we're going to teach
20:02
Speaker 2: people that asteroids hitting New Earth through an important problem
20:06
Speaker 2: and so but it is actually a really valid way
20:09
Speaker 2: to teach people is to tell a story that's so engaging,
20:13
Speaker 2: it's distributed in the media, that is so well seen
20:16
Speaker 2: that we can teach people things. So that's why I
20:20
Speaker 2: wrote a book, and that's why I shared some of
20:22
Speaker 2: the things that you know. I basically did manage to
20:26
Speaker 2: qualify in that meeting in space suit, which is very
20:29
Speaker 2: big and very difficult, and I did that with a
20:31
Speaker 2: lot of help. And at the same time, I don't
20:35
Speaker 2: want my certainly my grandkids, but I don't want my
20:38
Speaker 2: kids still walking into rooms where people when people understand
20:41
Speaker 2: who they are or don't understand who they are, they
20:44
Speaker 2: you know, they walk in and don't you know, don't
20:46
Speaker 2: feel welcome or let alone that they were invited. Because
20:49
Speaker 2: that's what happens to me, and everybody likes me, right,
20:52
Speaker 2: but I still didn't invite me to meetings about space
20:55
Speaker 2: walking because it just never occurred to them that I
20:58
Speaker 2: was one of them in that respect. So that's the
21:01
Speaker 2: kind of lesson that you think you're finding the book,
21:04
Speaker 2: as well as some I think pretty cool space stories
21:07
Speaker 2: and some funny things and some goofy things, and I
21:09
Speaker 2: think some things for everybody.
21:12
Speaker 5: I like that it takes, you know, all of that
21:16
Speaker 5: drive to take that dream that you have inside of
21:18
Speaker 5: you and make it a reality. And that how sometimes
21:21
Speaker 5: maybe an aspect of your dream that you never imagine
21:24
Speaker 5: could happen might also be a byproduct of it. Because
21:28
Speaker 5: if you don't qualify when you did, and you don't
21:30
Speaker 5: get to go to the National Space Station, there's not
21:32
Speaker 5: really an opportunity for you to have a flute duet
21:35
Speaker 5: with Ian Anderson from Jethra.
21:37
Speaker 2: Toll exactly my point.
21:45
Speaker 5: You know, we're very impressed with lots of aspects of
21:47
Speaker 5: your space career, but that one's that, you know, that's
21:49
Speaker 5: close to the tops. And I actually like.
21:51
Speaker 2: That, actually one of my favorites in that. I mean,
21:55
Speaker 2: I call this like in a group. There's actually like
21:58
Speaker 2: a story about this in the in the book. But
22:01
Speaker 2: you know it's about being brave and open. I actually
22:04
Speaker 2: brave enough to raise my hand and ask this famous
22:06
Speaker 2: guy if he would send me his flute up to space.
22:09
Speaker 2: And it's the first guy to bring this. Ian Anderson
22:12
Speaker 2: and Jeffertal bring the flute to rock music, and I just,
22:16
Speaker 2: you know, I just thought it was a good idea,
22:18
Speaker 2: just a different way to share. Meanwhile, he has to
22:21
Speaker 2: be open. I mean, here's a person he doesn't even
22:23
Speaker 2: know if she can play. It's not like I sent
22:25
Speaker 2: a demo tape. I'm like an amateur that plays in
22:28
Speaker 2: you know, places where alcohol is served, right with other
22:32
Speaker 2: astronauts by the way, Okay.
22:36
Speaker 5: Yes, And I like the idea of a of a
22:39
Speaker 5: flute player, a floutist or whatever having a demo tape.
22:43
Speaker 5: You know, I've experienced a lot of demo tapes over
22:46
Speaker 5: the years working in radio, and I can tell you
22:48
Speaker 5: I've never gotten one with a flute in it. It's
22:50
Speaker 5: it's usually uh, you know, it's usually hip hop or
22:54
Speaker 5: R and B, never really a flute.
22:55
Speaker 4: So I like the idea that.
22:56
Speaker 5: Yeah, what about the idea of Bandela your your band
23:00
Speaker 5: of you know, astronauts and Jethro Toll merging to form
23:03
Speaker 5: a supergroup. Could we ever possibly see that happen?
23:07
Speaker 2: Well, that's a great idea, thank you, because I've gotten
23:13
Speaker 2: to play a couple of times that I certainly keep
23:15
Speaker 2: in touch with the band and go see them quite
23:17
Speaker 2: a bit. And these are just such nice books, and
23:19
Speaker 2: their families are nice, and and so I feel like
23:23
Speaker 2: a little bit like family at least when we here together.
23:25
Speaker 2: And and but they're all they're all really curious and
23:29
Speaker 2: interested and interesting, and especially Ian Anderson himself is all
23:33
Speaker 2: about sustainabilities long before, many years before it was fashionable.
23:38
Speaker 2: And uh, and so I think that, uh, I think
23:42
Speaker 2: I'll have to maybe write a little email. We'll see.
23:45
Speaker 5: I'm just saying, just as the person who offered up
23:48
Speaker 5: the idea, you know, if maybe you know, a couple
23:51
Speaker 5: of backstage passes fell my way when it happened, that's all,
23:53
Speaker 5: you know, I wouldn't ask for a lot, just that
23:55
Speaker 5: little tiny bit as maybe the organ that.
23:58
Speaker 2: Would be that would be certain wells we actually seriously
24:03
Speaker 2: love to play. We get together a couple of times
24:04
Speaker 2: a year and find the venue, that kind of venue
24:07
Speaker 2: and dates that work for people. But there's something magical
24:10
Speaker 2: about when we get together and the music that happens.
24:13
Speaker 2: It's I think it's like that with so many it
24:15
Speaker 2: doesn't have to be music. I mean, it can be
24:17
Speaker 2: that like that with a scientific conversation, when suddenly when
24:20
Speaker 2: you get different people together. So it's just something that
24:24
Speaker 2: just happened where everybody's saying yes, and and I'm expecting
24:28
Speaker 2: a bunch of that to get catalyzed as Dragon Con.
24:30
Speaker 4: Well a dragon Con.
24:32
Speaker 5: Most people don't realize this, but music is a big
24:34
Speaker 5: component of the convention. Really, yeah, a lot of bands play.
24:39
Speaker 5: A few years ago I got to interview and I've
24:42
Speaker 5: kept in touch with Tom Kenny, who is the voice
24:44
Speaker 5: of SpongeBob. His band Tom Kenny in the High Seas played.
24:48
Speaker 5: It was a wild scene. I can just tell you
24:51
Speaker 5: that to see so many people in costume watching him perform. So,
24:55
Speaker 5: I don't know, maybe maybe if you have a great
24:57
Speaker 5: experience at Dragon Con, ban Della could maybe come next
25:00
Speaker 5: next year and really blow the roof off the dump.
25:03
Speaker 2: I will put the word out. Actually as we am
25:08
Speaker 2: part of the zoom and played is so Mickey Pettit
25:12
Speaker 2: is our singer and she is married to Don Pettitt,
25:14
Speaker 2: who was about to launch in the Sloyees up to
25:17
Speaker 2: the space station. And she wrote and she goes, hey, guys,
25:20
Speaker 2: know July gave you know, you know, Don's mission got
25:23
Speaker 2: moved up and so we'll be in Russia. No gigs,
25:27
Speaker 2: So it's all a little space program's attendent, but I
25:30
Speaker 2: think I think Don who is our sound guy by
25:33
Speaker 2: the way, really technically great sound guy. Anyways, I think
25:36
Speaker 2: he would have liked that we would be on the stage,
25:39
Speaker 2: but maybe people try for.
25:42
Speaker 4: Well.
25:42
Speaker 5: Excited about seeing you at Dragon Con in twenty twenty
25:45
Speaker 5: four and folks can come by and see you, talk
25:49
Speaker 5: with you.
25:50
Speaker 4: Maybe. I'm assuming you'll be signing your book, sharing.
25:53
Speaker 2: Will be signing books.
25:55
Speaker 5: So looking forward to seeing you there, and we really
25:57
Speaker 5: appreciate your time this morning, Katie Coleman, mean.
26:01
Speaker 2: Too, Thanks, It's really just great to talk with you.
26:04
Speaker 5: More Made of Stars after this. How great was that
26:31
Speaker 5: Katie Coleman, retired astronaut, author and a musician. You know,
26:37
Speaker 5: that's just an incredible opportunity to be able to talk
26:40
Speaker 5: to somebody like that. And she's fun, right yeah, I
26:43
Speaker 5: mean she brings so many different aspects of life into
26:47
Speaker 5: her thoughts about space and everything from the arts to
26:51
Speaker 5: just you know, what inspires people to go into the field.
26:54
Speaker 5: It was just great to talk to her. What a
26:55
Speaker 5: great interview, a great story. I'm anxious to check out
27:00
Speaker 5: her book. She'll be signing copies of that at dragon Con.
27:03
Speaker 5: And you know, really just stories about her time on
27:07
Speaker 5: the International Space Station. She touched on, you know, one
27:10
Speaker 5: of the aspects of the being on the space station
27:14
Speaker 5: and knowing like that the suits aren't really built necessarily
27:18
Speaker 5: for women or with women in mind. I'm assuming that
27:22
Speaker 5: the next generation of suits will have women in mind,
27:26
Speaker 5: but her stressing the importance of making sure that people
27:31
Speaker 5: are aware, Hey, the suits were too big, and I
27:34
Speaker 5: guess the space station in general isn't really built for women,
27:38
Speaker 5: not with women in mind. I think she talks about
27:40
Speaker 5: that in the book as well, So important to make
27:43
Speaker 5: sure that those voices are heard for you know, the
27:46
Speaker 5: next generation of astronauts will be spending time maybe on
27:50
Speaker 5: the next space station, or you know, when they start
27:52
Speaker 5: thinking about colonizing on the Moon and then eventually Mars
27:56
Speaker 5: and all those sorts of things. Well, their next generation
27:59
Speaker 5: space suits being designed and built now by a company
28:03
Speaker 5: called Axiom, and these are both lunar exploration suits, but
28:08
Speaker 5: they can also be used as potential EVA suits aboard
28:11
Speaker 5: International Space Station. And a couple of our former student
28:14
Speaker 5: interns here at Space Science Center are working at Axiom Space,
28:17
Speaker 5: so that's kind of a cool connection there. And and yeah,
28:20
Speaker 5: we have had Anne McLain who was then a Space
28:24
Speaker 5: Station astronaut but has also been accepted to the Artemis program.
28:29
Speaker 5: She's been here at Space Science Center, and one of
28:31
Speaker 5: the things that she talked about and then later actually
28:34
Speaker 5: encountered in space is this one size fits none sort
28:38
Speaker 5: of aspect to the EVA suits that are currently in
28:41
Speaker 5: use aboard International Space Station. They present a challenge to
28:45
Speaker 5: a lot of different body types, shall.
28:48
Speaker 4: We say, And so so you know, it's Katie.
28:51
Speaker 5: Is not the first astronaut to run into those kinds
28:54
Speaker 5: of situations and not the last either, So it is
28:58
Speaker 5: something that as NASA moves forward, it's definitely going to
29:00
Speaker 5: have to address in a little bit more detail. Katie
29:03
Speaker 5: mentioned in her interview with us the nature of inclusion
29:08
Speaker 5: and the importance of the inclusion ideas about making a
29:13
Speaker 5: place for everybody to be able to participate in the
29:16
Speaker 5: space ventures and just getting the right space sizes is
29:20
Speaker 5: just one of those things, right. So yeah, important topics
29:24
Speaker 5: being discussed there by Katie Coleman, and we're really thankful
29:26
Speaker 5: that she joined us today and discussed all of those
29:29
Speaker 5: aspects here on Native Stars. She'll be signing copies of
29:33
Speaker 5: her book at dragon Con that is downtown Atlanta Labor
29:38
Speaker 5: Day weekend, and I'm really looking forward to seeing her.
29:43
Speaker 5: And she said she's going to be in the parade,
29:45
Speaker 5: she's going to be giving talks. She's actually going to
29:48
Speaker 5: be speaking at one of the skeptics tracks. So, and
29:53
Speaker 5: that's another aspect of DRAGONHNA we don't often talk about.
29:56
Speaker 5: But there's not only you know, these science contingency that's
30:01
Speaker 5: going to be there, and you know folks that will
30:03
Speaker 5: be there from Marshall, also from from I guess Houston
30:11
Speaker 5: and down at Kennedy, but people that'll be there, you know,
30:15
Speaker 5: talking about science, talking about these things. And we you
30:18
Speaker 5: and I have talked, you know, a lot about that
30:20
Speaker 5: connection between science fiction and science. But the skeptic track
30:24
Speaker 5: where people come in, I mean you can imagine this
30:27
Speaker 5: is one of those a convention like Dragon Con and
30:30
Speaker 5: it covers so much of pop culture. But the you
30:34
Speaker 5: get a lot of people that want to come in
30:36
Speaker 5: and they want to talk about ghosts, you know, people
30:39
Speaker 5: with vivid imaginations that come in, Well they do this
30:42
Speaker 5: skeptic track that also kind of approaches it from the
30:45
Speaker 5: other side. And I mean, I've gotten to know some
30:47
Speaker 5: of the guys from the show Ghost Hunters, that you know,
30:51
Speaker 5: come and talk.
30:52
Speaker 4: So it's you.
30:53
Speaker 5: Get everything from hey, we're people that were actual literal ghostbusters,
30:56
Speaker 5: if you will. And then the other side is you've
30:59
Speaker 5: got these skeptics that come in and she's somebody who's
31:01
Speaker 5: gonna be she said, speaking at one of the skeptic
31:04
Speaker 5: events talking, and you know, I hope to be able
31:08
Speaker 5: to catch some of her speaking and look forward to seeing.
31:11
Speaker 4: You know, the parade.
31:13
Speaker 5: And I've met other astronauts at dragon Con and I've
31:16
Speaker 5: seen them like in the parade. But one of the
31:18
Speaker 5: things that I try to remind them is you go
31:20
Speaker 5: through the Walk of Fame. And I'm not sure she
31:23
Speaker 5: wasn't sure if she would be set up in the
31:24
Speaker 5: Walk of Fame or exactly where she'll be. But if
31:27
Speaker 5: you go through the Walk of Fame and you see
31:28
Speaker 5: actors and actresses that perform these roles, they play these heroes,
31:33
Speaker 5: they play these people that you sort of look up
31:35
Speaker 5: to heroes or villains or whatever, this is an actual,
31:38
Speaker 5: real hero, a real human being that is a real hero,
31:43
Speaker 5: not just someone who plays one on TV. And that's
31:45
Speaker 5: really you don't get to meet real heroes very often. Yeah,
31:49
Speaker 5: it's certainly fun to have your favorite people who are
31:53
Speaker 5: in the movies, and they play your favorite characters, and
31:55
Speaker 5: there's nothing wrong with getting excited about meeting those people,
31:59
Speaker 5: but it does seem like a little bit of a
32:01
Speaker 5: priority shift when there's an actual spaceflyer that maybe the
32:06
Speaker 5: lines that her table might not be as long as
32:10
Speaker 5: some of the Hollywood folks. I mean, again, nothing against
32:12
Speaker 5: the Hollywood folks, but you're right, Wes. Katie Coleman is
32:15
Speaker 5: an actual American hero, a hero of the American Space Program.
32:19
Speaker 5: The lady was the lead mission specialist on deploying the
32:22
Speaker 5: Chandra X ray Observatory, which is one of NASA's four
32:25
Speaker 5: great observatories that have flown into space. So this is
32:29
Speaker 5: a person that's been given very important jobs on space missions, right,
32:34
Speaker 5: So it's even among astronauts. She's a little bit of
32:38
Speaker 5: a hero even in that group. So it was great
32:41
Speaker 5: to talk to her today, And certainly, if you're going
32:43
Speaker 5: to be at DragonCon, anyone who's listening to this show,
32:46
Speaker 5: go make Katie's line a little bit longer, because you
32:49
Speaker 5: need to meet her and get one of her books,
32:51
Speaker 5: and get one of her autographs, and go check her
32:53
Speaker 5: out at dragon Con. And the stories that she has
32:56
Speaker 5: to tell. I mean, obviously they're in the book, but
32:58
Speaker 5: the stories that and she can answer. If you've got
33:00
Speaker 5: kids and you want your kids to be excited about
33:03
Speaker 5: STEM as a possible career path, this is the kind
33:06
Speaker 5: of person you want them to meet, to see them
33:09
Speaker 5: in person and hear some of those stories and you know,
33:12
Speaker 5: be able to ask them some of those questions, even
33:15
Speaker 5: if it's the ones that they probably answered a million times,
33:18
Speaker 5: but still they love the opportunity. And it sounds like
33:20
Speaker 5: she's definitely one of those people who would love the
33:23
Speaker 5: opportunity to be that inspiring figure. She seems to wear
33:29
Speaker 5: that proudly, and I think that's great. Yeah, we love
33:33
Speaker 5: the astronauts, we all we love talking to all the astronauts,
33:36
Speaker 5: but there's a there's a segment of them that just
33:39
Speaker 5: had that extra spark and they really appreciate the time
33:42
Speaker 5: that they get to spend talking with people about their
33:45
Speaker 5: adventures and about other things in life. We didn't get
33:47
Speaker 5: to ask her about her main coon cats, but you know,
33:49
Speaker 5: maybe you can ask her that up there at Dragon Comb.
33:52
Speaker 5: But anyway, so she just she just is a fun
33:55
Speaker 5: person to interview and a fun person to talk to.
33:57
Speaker 5: And I feel like we got a privilege today having
34:00
Speaker 5: her on the show and being able to listen to
34:02
Speaker 5: her viewpoints about space exploration. DragonCon dot org is where
34:07
Speaker 5: you need to go to learn more about dragon Con,
34:10
Speaker 5: checking out memberships and things like that. And if you
34:14
Speaker 5: want to know more about careers in space exploration, you
34:17
Speaker 5: can begin right here at Columbus State University. Check out
34:19
Speaker 5: the Earth and Space Sciences Department Columbus State University website
34:24
Speaker 5: Columbustate dot edu. Sean and I thank you for listening,
34:28
Speaker 5: and we'll do this again next week. Overhead Door Company
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