being an astronaut was not something
that I thought I could ever do I was
such a bad student it was not something
that I ever considered as a real
possibility what were some of the
characteristic qualities you see that’s
common amongst the people that become
astronauts
you know just because you might be the
best physicist in the world doesn’t mean
you’re necessarily gonna be the best
astronaut you know it’s a privilege to
be able to fly in space so if I’m
sitting next to today I’m sitting next
to a man who one day woke up and said
you know it’d be kind of cool if I went
and lived in space for 340 days I don’t
know let’s try traveling about 240
million miles 240 again a million miles
which is about a quarter of a billion
miles and go see what’s out there in
space I don’t know what’s out there in
space and while he was doing that Time
magazine was doing a whole series of
videos with them on what the experience
was like what the family was feeling
back here his two daughters hit me call
all these people that were being
involved and we as fans we as viewers
were you know experiencing it through
his eyes on what was this series like
what was that experience like so it’s
pretty excited to be sitting next to you
and actually get a chance to you know
talk with a person that’s been in space
oh brother thank you for making the time
to be here with us on value Tama but my
first question will be this for you what
made you wake up one day and say I want
to go to space you know as a kid growing
up in the Apollo era it’s something that
I was certainly interested in like many
kids were you know watching when Neil
and Buzz and Mike Collins went to the
moon I was you know I don’t know
probably five six years old so that’s
one of my first memories of the space
program always interested in it but I
was such a bad student it was not
something that I ever considered as a
real possibility because I couldn’t do
my homework really Thank You your
homework now I know you talk somewhere
about if you were today you’d be
considering an ADHD maybe hit if you
were maybe today yeah maybe I don’t know
but I can remember as a kid thinking
this is absolutely impossible for me to
pay attention and you know being an
astronaut was not something that
I thought I could ever do even though I
was interested in it I went to college
graduated from high school in the bottom
half of my class close to the middle the
bottom went to college and was
struggling there again possible
impossible for me to pay attention and
study I just didn’t have that ability
and then one day I go into the college
bookstore to buy a gun or something
not a book mm-hmm wasn’t a big reader at
the time at least and I saw this book on
the shelf that had a red white and blue
cover and a really cool title made me
pick it up I looked at the back look
through it took my gum money purchased
the book laid there in my dorm room for
the next few days and read the book the
right stuff which was about the test
pilots in the military that became the
original Gemini Mercury and Apollo
astronauts and maybe it was the way that
Tom Wolfe wrote in this kind of creative
nonfiction style or you know I think
perhaps or I do think that the way he
described these men I felt like I had
things in common with them in
personality and risk-taking I just felt
the connection to them with one big
exception and that is I was not a good
student and I thought you know if I can
just fix that one thing about myself
well maybe I can be a fighter pilot in
the Navy or the Air Force oh but I was
more interested in the Navy because
mm-hmm you know one of the land on the
aircraft carrier maybe I could become a
test pilot maybe I could become an
astronaut someday even though that book
was my inspiration it was my spark that
got me to sort through my issues with
education let me ask you this when you
look at in your speak because I wonder I
you know I wouldn’t do the research I
said what percentage of kids grow up in
astronauts I asked the mrs. patty you
have no idea I want to be an astronaut I
grew up I really Dennis how about she
says you know I probably thought I’d
want to be an astronaut but I never
thought I could be right and he followed
everything you were doing on Instagram
you know Twitter all your things that
you were going back and forth and you go
today and you see astronaut on many
different lists Forbes all this other
stuff 5 percent 8 percent 15% an angel
seen percent of what kids want to be
asked always 5% of kid
studies right they say I want to be an
astral and I grow up there’s this
fascination with space right something
that we can’t see having said that and
you said you came from the area where
five six years old you know Kennedy era
we’re gonna go land on the moon and so
there was a common ago so did I one day
I grow up and your brother Mark also
same thing he’s also an astronaut as
twins which is very random this will be
my question for you from hanging out
with other astronauts and you said you
read this book and he talked by these
different characters Ford and you said I
saw similarity with me and them what
were some of the quality characteristic
qualities you see that’s common amongst
the people that become astronauts a big
one is that they had done well in their
previous career so if you’re a test
pilot you need to be a good test pilot
you need to do a good job if you’re a
chemist or scientist you know whatever
field you’re in there generally top
performers in that field but there are
also people that have good teamwork
skills or good followers or good leaders
people that have other skills you know
just because you might be the best
physicist in the world doesn’t mean
you’re necessarily going to be the best
astronaut because the job has more
requirements than just science you know
you got to be a good wrench Turner on
the space station you have to you know
be able to do spacewalks robotics you’re
the plumber the electrician the IT
person you know all these kind of skills
the doctor the dentist you have to do
everything so and I’m speaking in
general terms but people that are able
to work well is part of a team and do a
lot of different things or I think the
common trait among most people in the
astronaut about personality wise how
about a person like like let me maybe
let me ask it this way what qualities
are automatic no goes there’s no way in
the world you could be up there for 340
days if you can’t handle this this this
what would they be people that aren’t
team players
you know people that can’t take
criticism it’s important to be able to
have some self-awareness and know when
you’re doing something wrong and
readjust your behavior certainly like
narcissists I don’t think would do very
well so people in politics
wouldn’t do very well in space you know
if they were like a narcissist maybe
they went to a couple of claustrophobic
if somebody has issues with being in
confined in one place is that something
where they say you’re a no-go there’s
nobody could be up there during the
astronaut selection process they did a
test on us and they hook you up with a
heart monitor put you in this rubber
ball with a big thick zipper their zip
it closed and put you into a closet and
leave you there or how long you said
they don’t tell you I think I was in
there for about 20 minutes they don’t
tell you yeah so it’s a test to see if
you have claustrophobia so you would
never pass that test if you had
claustrophobia so we don’t really have
claustrophobic astronauts you’re up
there for 340 days when you went up
there for me I mean I look at you’ve got
two different issues I’m thinking about
right one of them is physical that
you’re talking about because when they
did the testing you come back and you
were one-and-a-half some say two inches
but I think you said it here it wasn’t
two inches it was more one and a half
inches that I wasn’t taller I was more
was award you you stretched I don’t know
what award you use you know gravity is
pushing down on this right right so it
compresses our spine I would I need to
do this myself just to confirm this in
my own mind but you measure yourself
standing up you go to sleep you measure
yourself lie in your bed
you’re probably taller too because you
know your spine has elongated stretching
how much it does I don’t know but yeah
my spine elongated is a little bit and
there was a big story that I grew two
inches there was that there’s a video
when you landed and then your brother
comes to hug you and he’s standing right
next to you you could tell you a little
taller than your brother and that little
sin when you’re watching like you know
what he looks a little taller than him I
don’t know how much but there’s a little
bit that you could possibly tell from
the viewer stamp without a goodness like
platform shoes it could have been that
you had your attagirls lat yeah I don’t
know so okay so why while you were up
there what was the and again not the 340
days because you’ve been before what was
the biggest thing you had to adjust
adjust with the first time you went up
my first spaceflight first period which
was seven days
was on the space shuttle Discovery in
1999 the biggest thing is just living in
space is challenging when everything
floats it makes most things harder to do
and it’s a strange environment you have
to deal with that you know the challenge
of working and living in that
environment and also how it makes you
feel physically it’s not the greatest
feeling in the world where all of a
sudden your blood has redistributed
itself up in your body and now you have
this like big-headed astronaut feeling
that’s not just about egos it’s all sort
of swelling head and it’s not
comfortable and that’s the biggest
adjustment you know on my first flight
no you know subsequent flights
especially when you’re living on the
space station I think the hardest part
about it is is the the idea that if
something bad happens to one of your
family members you can’t come home you
were there you know it is an agreement
you’ve made that you know regardless of
what happens on earth you have to stay
there you actually thought about that
yeah yeah absolutely when you were going
through the process I don’t know what
the preparation was for the 3:40 I read
some what was six months some number
like that a couple of years like a
couple of years they trained for that or
there’s certain things that they prep
you with and ask you questions with hey
Scott you know you need to keep this in
mind are you okay with this was there a
process you had to go through with them
you mean like from a like a
psychological yes during the course of
that two years of training you have
scheduled meetings with I would call
them the brain trust it’s a group of
psychologists and psychologists and they
you know you talk about you know how
things are going how’s you know what’s
your state of mind going into this and
then also you know ways to cope if you
experience challenges or difficulties or
you know difficulties with you know
interpersonal relationships whether
they’re in space or on the ground and
then when you get in into space you
actually have a video conference with
the same folks every two weeks to gauge
how you’re every two weeks every two
weeks how often are you in contact with
your family your friends we have a
the ability to make phone calls on board
it’s kind of like a you know Skype audio
only call you can call people anywhere
basically anytime you have a satellite
connection which is probably about you
know eighty percent of the time we do
have some blackouts periods where
there’s not good line-of-sight to the
satellite that people cannot call you
which in some ways is kind of nice
because if you want to talk to somebody
you call them and generally they answer
the phone if it’s from space yeah who’s
calling its from space honey pick it up
well you have email capability we they
would have regularly scheduled video
conferences on the weekend so your
ability to maintain a connection is is
great on the space station now going to
Mars someday it’ll be different because
you know after a few days you’re gonna
have such a time delay in the
communication where the phone calls
aren’t gonna work anymore so then you’re
down to email and like a video recording
or recorded messages how did you keep
yourself because did you assume and you
have a lot of life time right I mean
what are you very little free time very
little free time what do you mean by
that are you what work are you doing you
know keeping the space station operating
whether it’s just the the general things
you need to do to keep the systems
running as an example you know we take
care of our urine and we turn it into
water by putting it into the system so
you know every few days you’re taking
urine from the Russian segment you’re
putting it into our our system you’re
cleaning the filters your inventory
certain you know hardware stuff that you
might need you’re fixing things that
have broken you’re doing scientific
experiments a lot of experiments so it’s
a there’s a lot of work I was never
bored I never found myself thinking well
what am I gonna do from a work
perspective there’s always things that
are just ready to go or you could you
could probably work you know
four hours a day seven days a week and
you would still have things to do
so you feel turd urine and you drank the
urine no we drank the water that was
made from the urine you drank the water
that was made from the urine yeah now
obviously it’s a technical term the way
you’re describing it but was it Russians
drinking American urine the water aspect
of and the Americans doing the opposite
mostly so our urine goes into our system
right from the toilet it’s automatic
Russian urine you had to bring from the
Russian segment and and put it into our
urine processor and water processing
system and then yeah we mostly used that
water there but it’s a barter system
like we trade things on the space
station electricity propulsion time crew
time so it’s you knows a lot of
international agreements involved so did
you read a lot when you were up there I
read some this mission my last mission I
spend more time writing than I did
reading mostly like a journal to
yourself and not to somebody else right
okay just like taking notes got off just
trying to capture the whole experience
thinking that I might write a book
something what’s that what’s the closest
thing to a movie you watch that you said
you know I thought that’s it that’s a
pretty good you know explanation of what
it is to be up there have you watched
anything he said I kind of make Sam I
relate to that Apollo 13 is was very
well done of course that’s not on the
space station but it is a good example
of the you know the type of people the
mindset kind of work we do risk involved
martians a good movie too
you know gravity I think they did a
great job of rendering the space station
how it looks even though the physics of
it was you know not accurate but that’s
understandable you know you’re trying to
make an entertaining movie so I had no
problem with that well when I look at
you in your videos since you had this
one video you were doing what I think
you had the two paddles looks like
ping-pong paddles I don’t think they
were ping-pong paddles to brown paddles
that you had and you know
water thing up and that which was kind
of cool and you know you kind of pull
yourself and you go up and I’m watching
this saying you know in the world of
weightlifting and exercising the most
important thing about developing muscle
is pressure mm-hmm if you don’t have
pressure to push something your muscles
not going to develop and if a person
that’s lift weights and trains and
doesn’t do that yeah muscle gets flabby
gets soft it gets weak when you when
when the mission was over and you came
off did you yourself feel like your
muscles were weaker like was there a
moment where you were kind of starting
to realize I don’t have the same
strength as I had a year before me going
on this so we have some very good
exercise equipment on board and we have
to exercise at least two hours a day to
prevent not only your muscles from
degrading but also your bones every day
so you know that includes time getting
ready and time cleaning up that’s
actually two and a half hours days is
the scheduled time so and what that
exercise would consist of is aerobic
exercise and I would exercise six days a
week I needed like a mental rest day
some people do it every day that never
quite worked for me but the we have a
treadmill that you run on you strap
yourself you have a harness that has
bungee cords and I would run usually
about 35 minutes to 40 minutes and then
every other day I would do a bicycle
with a stationary bicycle sometimes I
would actually run more than I’d use the
bicycle but we also had a have a
weightlifting machine that uses
evacuated air cylinders to create the
resistance and it feels like real weight
I mean it is an amazing machine so you
can do you know squats deadlifts heel
raises both breasts everything really
with you know you got to reconfigure it
between exercises but yeah you’re doing
you know squats with you know hundreds
of pounds especially when you consider
you no longer have body weight that’s
that’s why I ask the question I’m
curious because that whole perspective
me you know it makes sense if it’s there
because back in the days when I worked
at Bally’s we had these machines called
Kaiser machines and they were all air
there was no weight and that pressure
was still a solid pressure that actually
worked your muscle in a complete
different way you know it feels and when
though sometimes I mean the machines are
generally very reliable but there there
were cases where you know the the
weightlifting machine might be broken
for a couple of days and it is not a
good feeling you you actually feel like
oh man you know not opposing gravity or
walking around is definitely having a
negative effect on your physiology that
you can even feel it
so like exercise is really you really I
think it’s more enjoyable in space
actually because your body needs it more
in space Wow it’s more enjoyable yeah
interesting what changed for you when it
comes down to gravity or did anything
change because a lot of question when
I’m talking to you like you know you
making it seem like it’s very normal and
so some of us human beings that I’ve
never been to space before to us it’s
we’re very curious about what it was for
you what to change for you with the
level of respect for gravity when you
were up there for 340 days versus what
it was before or it was it I already
know how gravity was nothing really
changed much my perspective wasn’t
different you know gravity is very
helpful like people I think a lot of
people have this perception that if they
could live in zero gravity their whole
life it would be gray you just float
around and it’s like peaceful it
actually makes just about everything
harder to do you know imagine your house
where you could never throw anything on
the floor or on the counter everything
always has to be put away or secured
things are really easy to lose it
affects how you feel physically so on
one hand it’s sort of fun to float and
you can flip around and you can move
around places quickly it’s also not a
great feeling when they you’re living
you know for months with this fluid
shift in your head that never completely
goes away so you know there’s a downside
to it so I am very happy living with
gravity you are very happy to immigrate
I love gravity your your experience
being up there you were up there with
Misha right who was the
Russian Mikhail Misha who was the
Russian astronaut who went up there with
you now cosmonaut yes and so when you’re
when you’re up there and yours you know
you have a partner that’s representing a
nation that at one point was an enemy
even maybe today could be viewed as an
enemy if you turn on CNN fox or MSNBC
and I’m not going on the political side
here with you my question for you would
be did you guys have a lot of
opportunity to just sit there and talk
and collaborate and see different views
and actually appreciate the differences
and and say look I mean I can’t believe
I’m here
you’re representing an enemy to our
country at some point and I’m over here
from you know America and we actually
are building a friendship together how
was that relationship like relationship
like when you Mischa so I’ve known him
and a lot of the other cosmonauts for a
long time I think I probably first met
Mischa and you know late 90s early 2000s
the same with many of the other
cosmonauts I had been in space with and
when you’re in space with whether it’s a
Russian or a Japanese guy or someone
from a European country or your fellow
you know American crew member you
realize that the most important thing to
you as a group is each other and your
collective safety in you know helping
and supporting one another in an in an
environment that’s very very challenging
so that is that relationship is much
more important to the folks in space
than the relationship may be between our
two nations there are times when we
would talk politics a little bit this
last time I was in space was when you
know the Russian military went into
Syria and we talked about it a little
bit and I think I just said basically
hey I hope you guys can help with this
or figure this out but it would never
become something that would I think get
between us because really we do we’re
live you know literally on each other
for our lives and that’s what’s most
important I mean you are a nation when
you’re up there right I mean
realistically he may be
or American but you are in your own
country in space so that’s yeah that’s a
niche I never thought about it that we
explain it that way regarding Mars so
when do you think that that experience
is actually going to become a reality no
idea when I was on the space station
this last time I was asked a question by
a by a reporter and the question was you
know now that nASA has determined that
some time of the year there is liquid
water on Mars will that help us get
there any sooner I said I don’t know
maybe now if we found money on Mars
that would help us get there because
that’s what we need is money we need
money to go to Mars so someone’s got to
start a propaganda saying there is these
gold mines that we got to go get
actually not many people live there
maybe the Oklahoma land rush similar
yeah it’s just okay but mother well how
much we your brother once said it’s less
it’s less about less about rocket
science and more about political science
I thought it was faster than when your
brothers say what is the dollar amount
what is the dollar amount if we did want
to go to it would you have any idea or
now really I would be guessing but I
would say somewhere between a hundred
and two hundred billion dollars a
hundred to two hundred billion maybe I
don’t know oh wow so that’s that’s real
money if we wanted to go so ain’t chump
change that ain’t chump change but maybe
here’s a question of accuracy know what
you would say about it should we want to
you know we’ve always by nature were
explorers America and just human beings
we kind of want to go explore even when
we’re kids were like I want to know
what’s in that room that Mommy and Daddy
won’t let me go into there’s a certain
part of us that yearns for them do you
think it’s important for us to really go
in the direction of coming together as a
nation or coming together you know as
different nations and say look let’s put
our money together and figure out it we
go see what’s on Mars I I think so I
think you know now not only is it a goal
that we can work on together this is
international partnership we can do it
in a area that is a common ground to all
of us I think there is you know
financial reasons to do it I think doing
the hardest things technologically
causes us to have to develop new
industries and processes that have
benefits
that are you know separate than going to
Mars will have benefits for us here on
earth I think that like you said we are
explorers history will tell us that you
know civilizations that have stopped
expanding and exploring of ceased to
exist so you know at some point on this
earth we were going to have to continue
to venture out into our solar system if
we want to continue to grow and survive
I’m not saying we need to turn Mars into
another earth but I think it is
important for the continued survival of
this planet to be able to grow beyond
the planet because you know we have an
increasing population and there are many
reasons to do this
and if you said you know everything I
said it’s not right I think maybe not
the investment it would take to go to
Mars but certainly a the investment we
currently have like in our space program
the billions of dollars we spend every
year if you didn’t think that money was
worth it we shouldn’t be going into
space for the reasons we do if the only
thing we got out of it is kids in this
country could say hey I’m gonna do my
math and science homework because I want
to work for NASA someday that pays for
itself because you know I go around the
schools and kids are excited about the
space program it makes them be better
students it makes some of them become
scientists and engineers and these are
the jobs that create things which fuel
our economy I think I think your story
Biffen if there’s a kid out there that’s
watching and that series that time did
it bother if you haven’t seen it I
suggest you go on time type in Scott
Kelly and time and we’ll go from one to
three I think it’s 12 episodes I don’t
know the exact address 12 I think it’s
12 episodes the entire experience from
the beginning to the end so you know won
an Emmy they won an Emmy that’s right I
saw that it won an Emmy and I think 2015
you will recognize top 100 most
influential people according to Time
magazine right I think was 20 15 years
so you know in sports there are fans who
have opinions about basketball
then there are basketball players who
have opinions about basketball
meaning if
Kobe Bryant gives you no critiques let’s
just say a basketball player that’s
different than you and I a fan saying I
think such and such as in doing their
part right right or in baseball you’re
an Astros fan if Jeff Bagwell tells Mike
Trout a certain thing that he needs to
pay attention to maybe trout’s gonna
take more feedback from a bag well then
maybe you and I given it to him right so
when you landed your brother mark
he’s also an astronaut what was the
conversation like with him that was so
different than everybody else in the
world that kind of has no clue what
they’re talking about what was that
conversation with somebody that actually
speaks your language where you
appreciated that conversation versus
everyone else well you know it’s it’s
great to have a sibling that has a
similar experience now my brother had
never done a long-duration flight but
just talking to him about it especially
like flying the space shuttle because
we’ve both done that then you know
sharing with him what it’s like on the
Soyuz or do the spacewalk is a real
privilege you know it’s a privilege to
be able to fly in space and then it’s
really you know a privilege really only
my brother and I have where you can
share this kind of experience with a
sibling a couple cosmonauts their dads
were work cosmonauts too but you know
mark and I having the ability to talk
about something that is so incredible
that we both got to do is you know one
of the great privileges of my life
actually I don’t know if it gets better
than that by the way and and I wonder
how your parents think you know when
they see how they were very proud of
Mark and I am I mean what else can their
kids do to make their parents surprised
if you got both of them go up there I
mean that’s a resume check my
grandmother my maternal grandmother when
she was alive had a had a bumper sticker
on her car that said my two my two twin
grandsons are astronauts and I’m sure
people threw like eggs eggs a ya know
they really really you know mark and
Kelly’s got Kelly so okay if somebody’s
watching right now and you know a 10
year old a 12 year old a 14 year
somebody that’s fascinated with space
what books if you were to recommend two
or three books obviously that one book
you recommended earlier what books would
you recommend for someone to
read that either that’s gonna be one
we’re gonna get you to wrap up here
because this will be the last and by the
way if you haven’t seen this book I’m
gonna do some he’s gonna do some sign
and we’ll do some giveaways so hang
tight for that one but what other books
would you recommend for people to
consider getting that you know maybe
inspired you as you were coming up Mike
Collins book carrying the fire is one of
the best astronaut autobiographies there
is the book that inspired from the earth
to the moon by Andrew Chaikin I forget
the name of it but it was basically you
know the history of the Apollo program
and you know the right stuff is a book
that inspired me the right stuff isn’t
just about spaceflight though it’s it’s
also about you know being a test pilot
in the military and working in the
military but you know my inspiration was
was the right stuff but you know I think
you know most people will agree carrying
the fire is you know probably the best
astronaut autobiography so here’s what
we’re gonna be doing first of all to
tell you that I myself I’m grateful that
somebody like you is willing to
sacrifice your life with two kids you
got two kids and you’re willing to make
a decision to go up there for 340 days
so we can become smarter as a nation to
do better the next time we got are we
really prepared to go to Mars and you
put your life on the line and your
family sat down and had this
conversation which I want you to know as
a you know person who was in military
before that’s the highest level for you
to be willing to do that so thank you
for your service but here’s what I want
to do for those of you out there that
are big Scott Kelly fans I know many of
you said Pat I would love to see them on
value tame and I said no problem so
here’s what we’re doing we got some
books here and if you can talk about
this book that you wrote endurance we
got this book here that Scott wrote
endurance a year in space a lifetime of
discovery for those of you that are
truly Scott fans I’m not talking about
somebody that would love to have this
book because you want to have it signed
and put it on the bookshelf and you’re
not going to go through it I want people
that actually followed his material when
he was up there maybe you were on
Twitter that day when he was doing
questions and Barack Obama came up and
said what is it like to be up there and
and who was the the father astronaut
that came back and tweeted and yes so
you know when you when you want to if
you were if you’re if you were following
that entire experience I want you to
tweet him and tweet me and tell me why
you were following his story maybe
you’re the biggest fan of what he was
doing and we’ll pick four winners and
we’ll send four copies signed copies to
four different people but you got to
tweet it out so tweet him and put me in
the handle we’ll pick four winners and
we’ll send a signed copy to four of you
of the book endurance written by the one
and only Scott Kelly is there anything
you want to say about your book before
we finish off the interview here you
know it’s a book about spending a year
in space certainly but it’s also a book
about this kid who couldn’t do his
homework
that figured his stuff out and then
later spent a year in space and did some
pretty interesting things in between
slightly slightly interesting things I
mean that’s to say the least yeah thank
you so much for your thanks riche it’s your pleasure
that I thought I could ever do I was
such a bad student it was not something
that I ever considered as a real
possibility what were some of the
characteristic qualities you see that’s
common amongst the people that become
astronauts
you know just because you might be the
best physicist in the world doesn’t mean
you’re necessarily gonna be the best
astronaut you know it’s a privilege to
be able to fly in space so if I’m
sitting next to today I’m sitting next
to a man who one day woke up and said
you know it’d be kind of cool if I went
and lived in space for 340 days I don’t
know let’s try traveling about 240
million miles 240 again a million miles
which is about a quarter of a billion
miles and go see what’s out there in
space I don’t know what’s out there in
space and while he was doing that Time
magazine was doing a whole series of
videos with them on what the experience
was like what the family was feeling
back here his two daughters hit me call
all these people that were being
involved and we as fans we as viewers
were you know experiencing it through
his eyes on what was this series like
what was that experience like so it’s
pretty excited to be sitting next to you
and actually get a chance to you know
talk with a person that’s been in space
oh brother thank you for making the time
to be here with us on value Tama but my
first question will be this for you what
made you wake up one day and say I want
to go to space you know as a kid growing
up in the Apollo era it’s something that
I was certainly interested in like many
kids were you know watching when Neil
and Buzz and Mike Collins went to the
moon I was you know I don’t know
probably five six years old so that’s
one of my first memories of the space
program always interested in it but I
was such a bad student it was not
something that I ever considered as a
real possibility because I couldn’t do
my homework really Thank You your
homework now I know you talk somewhere
about if you were today you’d be
considering an ADHD maybe hit if you
were maybe today yeah maybe I don’t know
but I can remember as a kid thinking
this is absolutely impossible for me to
pay attention and you know being an
astronaut was not something that
I thought I could ever do even though I
was interested in it I went to college
graduated from high school in the bottom
half of my class close to the middle the
bottom went to college and was
struggling there again possible
impossible for me to pay attention and
study I just didn’t have that ability
and then one day I go into the college
bookstore to buy a gun or something
not a book mm-hmm wasn’t a big reader at
the time at least and I saw this book on
the shelf that had a red white and blue
cover and a really cool title made me
pick it up I looked at the back look
through it took my gum money purchased
the book laid there in my dorm room for
the next few days and read the book the
right stuff which was about the test
pilots in the military that became the
original Gemini Mercury and Apollo
astronauts and maybe it was the way that
Tom Wolfe wrote in this kind of creative
nonfiction style or you know I think
perhaps or I do think that the way he
described these men I felt like I had
things in common with them in
personality and risk-taking I just felt
the connection to them with one big
exception and that is I was not a good
student and I thought you know if I can
just fix that one thing about myself
well maybe I can be a fighter pilot in
the Navy or the Air Force oh but I was
more interested in the Navy because
mm-hmm you know one of the land on the
aircraft carrier maybe I could become a
test pilot maybe I could become an
astronaut someday even though that book
was my inspiration it was my spark that
got me to sort through my issues with
education let me ask you this when you
look at in your speak because I wonder I
you know I wouldn’t do the research I
said what percentage of kids grow up in
astronauts I asked the mrs. patty you
have no idea I want to be an astronaut I
grew up I really Dennis how about she
says you know I probably thought I’d
want to be an astronaut but I never
thought I could be right and he followed
everything you were doing on Instagram
you know Twitter all your things that
you were going back and forth and you go
today and you see astronaut on many
different lists Forbes all this other
stuff 5 percent 8 percent 15% an angel
seen percent of what kids want to be
asked always 5% of kid
studies right they say I want to be an
astral and I grow up there’s this
fascination with space right something
that we can’t see having said that and
you said you came from the area where
five six years old you know Kennedy era
we’re gonna go land on the moon and so
there was a common ago so did I one day
I grow up and your brother Mark also
same thing he’s also an astronaut as
twins which is very random this will be
my question for you from hanging out
with other astronauts and you said you
read this book and he talked by these
different characters Ford and you said I
saw similarity with me and them what
were some of the quality characteristic
qualities you see that’s common amongst
the people that become astronauts a big
one is that they had done well in their
previous career so if you’re a test
pilot you need to be a good test pilot
you need to do a good job if you’re a
chemist or scientist you know whatever
field you’re in there generally top
performers in that field but there are
also people that have good teamwork
skills or good followers or good leaders
people that have other skills you know
just because you might be the best
physicist in the world doesn’t mean
you’re necessarily going to be the best
astronaut because the job has more
requirements than just science you know
you got to be a good wrench Turner on
the space station you have to you know
be able to do spacewalks robotics you’re
the plumber the electrician the IT
person you know all these kind of skills
the doctor the dentist you have to do
everything so and I’m speaking in
general terms but people that are able
to work well is part of a team and do a
lot of different things or I think the
common trait among most people in the
astronaut about personality wise how
about a person like like let me maybe
let me ask it this way what qualities
are automatic no goes there’s no way in
the world you could be up there for 340
days if you can’t handle this this this
what would they be people that aren’t
team players
you know people that can’t take
criticism it’s important to be able to
have some self-awareness and know when
you’re doing something wrong and
readjust your behavior certainly like
narcissists I don’t think would do very
well so people in politics
wouldn’t do very well in space you know
if they were like a narcissist maybe
they went to a couple of claustrophobic
if somebody has issues with being in
confined in one place is that something
where they say you’re a no-go there’s
nobody could be up there during the
astronaut selection process they did a
test on us and they hook you up with a
heart monitor put you in this rubber
ball with a big thick zipper their zip
it closed and put you into a closet and
leave you there or how long you said
they don’t tell you I think I was in
there for about 20 minutes they don’t
tell you yeah so it’s a test to see if
you have claustrophobia so you would
never pass that test if you had
claustrophobia so we don’t really have
claustrophobic astronauts you’re up
there for 340 days when you went up
there for me I mean I look at you’ve got
two different issues I’m thinking about
right one of them is physical that
you’re talking about because when they
did the testing you come back and you
were one-and-a-half some say two inches
but I think you said it here it wasn’t
two inches it was more one and a half
inches that I wasn’t taller I was more
was award you you stretched I don’t know
what award you use you know gravity is
pushing down on this right right so it
compresses our spine I would I need to
do this myself just to confirm this in
my own mind but you measure yourself
standing up you go to sleep you measure
yourself lie in your bed
you’re probably taller too because you
know your spine has elongated stretching
how much it does I don’t know but yeah
my spine elongated is a little bit and
there was a big story that I grew two
inches there was that there’s a video
when you landed and then your brother
comes to hug you and he’s standing right
next to you you could tell you a little
taller than your brother and that little
sin when you’re watching like you know
what he looks a little taller than him I
don’t know how much but there’s a little
bit that you could possibly tell from
the viewer stamp without a goodness like
platform shoes it could have been that
you had your attagirls lat yeah I don’t
know so okay so why while you were up
there what was the and again not the 340
days because you’ve been before what was
the biggest thing you had to adjust
adjust with the first time you went up
my first spaceflight first period which
was seven days
was on the space shuttle Discovery in
1999 the biggest thing is just living in
space is challenging when everything
floats it makes most things harder to do
and it’s a strange environment you have
to deal with that you know the challenge
of working and living in that
environment and also how it makes you
feel physically it’s not the greatest
feeling in the world where all of a
sudden your blood has redistributed
itself up in your body and now you have
this like big-headed astronaut feeling
that’s not just about egos it’s all sort
of swelling head and it’s not
comfortable and that’s the biggest
adjustment you know on my first flight
no you know subsequent flights
especially when you’re living on the
space station I think the hardest part
about it is is the the idea that if
something bad happens to one of your
family members you can’t come home you
were there you know it is an agreement
you’ve made that you know regardless of
what happens on earth you have to stay
there you actually thought about that
yeah yeah absolutely when you were going
through the process I don’t know what
the preparation was for the 3:40 I read
some what was six months some number
like that a couple of years like a
couple of years they trained for that or
there’s certain things that they prep
you with and ask you questions with hey
Scott you know you need to keep this in
mind are you okay with this was there a
process you had to go through with them
you mean like from a like a
psychological yes during the course of
that two years of training you have
scheduled meetings with I would call
them the brain trust it’s a group of
psychologists and psychologists and they
you know you talk about you know how
things are going how’s you know what’s
your state of mind going into this and
then also you know ways to cope if you
experience challenges or difficulties or
you know difficulties with you know
interpersonal relationships whether
they’re in space or on the ground and
then when you get in into space you
actually have a video conference with
the same folks every two weeks to gauge
how you’re every two weeks every two
weeks how often are you in contact with
your family your friends we have a
the ability to make phone calls on board
it’s kind of like a you know Skype audio
only call you can call people anywhere
basically anytime you have a satellite
connection which is probably about you
know eighty percent of the time we do
have some blackouts periods where
there’s not good line-of-sight to the
satellite that people cannot call you
which in some ways is kind of nice
because if you want to talk to somebody
you call them and generally they answer
the phone if it’s from space yeah who’s
calling its from space honey pick it up
well you have email capability we they
would have regularly scheduled video
conferences on the weekend so your
ability to maintain a connection is is
great on the space station now going to
Mars someday it’ll be different because
you know after a few days you’re gonna
have such a time delay in the
communication where the phone calls
aren’t gonna work anymore so then you’re
down to email and like a video recording
or recorded messages how did you keep
yourself because did you assume and you
have a lot of life time right I mean
what are you very little free time very
little free time what do you mean by
that are you what work are you doing you
know keeping the space station operating
whether it’s just the the general things
you need to do to keep the systems
running as an example you know we take
care of our urine and we turn it into
water by putting it into the system so
you know every few days you’re taking
urine from the Russian segment you’re
putting it into our our system you’re
cleaning the filters your inventory
certain you know hardware stuff that you
might need you’re fixing things that
have broken you’re doing scientific
experiments a lot of experiments so it’s
a there’s a lot of work I was never
bored I never found myself thinking well
what am I gonna do from a work
perspective there’s always things that
are just ready to go or you could you
could probably work you know
four hours a day seven days a week and
you would still have things to do
so you feel turd urine and you drank the
urine no we drank the water that was
made from the urine you drank the water
that was made from the urine yeah now
obviously it’s a technical term the way
you’re describing it but was it Russians
drinking American urine the water aspect
of and the Americans doing the opposite
mostly so our urine goes into our system
right from the toilet it’s automatic
Russian urine you had to bring from the
Russian segment and and put it into our
urine processor and water processing
system and then yeah we mostly used that
water there but it’s a barter system
like we trade things on the space
station electricity propulsion time crew
time so it’s you knows a lot of
international agreements involved so did
you read a lot when you were up there I
read some this mission my last mission I
spend more time writing than I did
reading mostly like a journal to
yourself and not to somebody else right
okay just like taking notes got off just
trying to capture the whole experience
thinking that I might write a book
something what’s that what’s the closest
thing to a movie you watch that you said
you know I thought that’s it that’s a
pretty good you know explanation of what
it is to be up there have you watched
anything he said I kind of make Sam I
relate to that Apollo 13 is was very
well done of course that’s not on the
space station but it is a good example
of the you know the type of people the
mindset kind of work we do risk involved
martians a good movie too
you know gravity I think they did a
great job of rendering the space station
how it looks even though the physics of
it was you know not accurate but that’s
understandable you know you’re trying to
make an entertaining movie so I had no
problem with that well when I look at
you in your videos since you had this
one video you were doing what I think
you had the two paddles looks like
ping-pong paddles I don’t think they
were ping-pong paddles to brown paddles
that you had and you know
water thing up and that which was kind
of cool and you know you kind of pull
yourself and you go up and I’m watching
this saying you know in the world of
weightlifting and exercising the most
important thing about developing muscle
is pressure mm-hmm if you don’t have
pressure to push something your muscles
not going to develop and if a person
that’s lift weights and trains and
doesn’t do that yeah muscle gets flabby
gets soft it gets weak when you when
when the mission was over and you came
off did you yourself feel like your
muscles were weaker like was there a
moment where you were kind of starting
to realize I don’t have the same
strength as I had a year before me going
on this so we have some very good
exercise equipment on board and we have
to exercise at least two hours a day to
prevent not only your muscles from
degrading but also your bones every day
so you know that includes time getting
ready and time cleaning up that’s
actually two and a half hours days is
the scheduled time so and what that
exercise would consist of is aerobic
exercise and I would exercise six days a
week I needed like a mental rest day
some people do it every day that never
quite worked for me but the we have a
treadmill that you run on you strap
yourself you have a harness that has
bungee cords and I would run usually
about 35 minutes to 40 minutes and then
every other day I would do a bicycle
with a stationary bicycle sometimes I
would actually run more than I’d use the
bicycle but we also had a have a
weightlifting machine that uses
evacuated air cylinders to create the
resistance and it feels like real weight
I mean it is an amazing machine so you
can do you know squats deadlifts heel
raises both breasts everything really
with you know you got to reconfigure it
between exercises but yeah you’re doing
you know squats with you know hundreds
of pounds especially when you consider
you no longer have body weight that’s
that’s why I ask the question I’m
curious because that whole perspective
me you know it makes sense if it’s there
because back in the days when I worked
at Bally’s we had these machines called
Kaiser machines and they were all air
there was no weight and that pressure
was still a solid pressure that actually
worked your muscle in a complete
different way you know it feels and when
though sometimes I mean the machines are
generally very reliable but there there
were cases where you know the the
weightlifting machine might be broken
for a couple of days and it is not a
good feeling you you actually feel like
oh man you know not opposing gravity or
walking around is definitely having a
negative effect on your physiology that
you can even feel it
so like exercise is really you really I
think it’s more enjoyable in space
actually because your body needs it more
in space Wow it’s more enjoyable yeah
interesting what changed for you when it
comes down to gravity or did anything
change because a lot of question when
I’m talking to you like you know you
making it seem like it’s very normal and
so some of us human beings that I’ve
never been to space before to us it’s
we’re very curious about what it was for
you what to change for you with the
level of respect for gravity when you
were up there for 340 days versus what
it was before or it was it I already
know how gravity was nothing really
changed much my perspective wasn’t
different you know gravity is very
helpful like people I think a lot of
people have this perception that if they
could live in zero gravity their whole
life it would be gray you just float
around and it’s like peaceful it
actually makes just about everything
harder to do you know imagine your house
where you could never throw anything on
the floor or on the counter everything
always has to be put away or secured
things are really easy to lose it
affects how you feel physically so on
one hand it’s sort of fun to float and
you can flip around and you can move
around places quickly it’s also not a
great feeling when they you’re living
you know for months with this fluid
shift in your head that never completely
goes away so you know there’s a downside
to it so I am very happy living with
gravity you are very happy to immigrate
I love gravity your your experience
being up there you were up there with
Misha right who was the
Russian Mikhail Misha who was the
Russian astronaut who went up there with
you now cosmonaut yes and so when you’re
when you’re up there and yours you know
you have a partner that’s representing a
nation that at one point was an enemy
even maybe today could be viewed as an
enemy if you turn on CNN fox or MSNBC
and I’m not going on the political side
here with you my question for you would
be did you guys have a lot of
opportunity to just sit there and talk
and collaborate and see different views
and actually appreciate the differences
and and say look I mean I can’t believe
I’m here
you’re representing an enemy to our
country at some point and I’m over here
from you know America and we actually
are building a friendship together how
was that relationship like relationship
like when you Mischa so I’ve known him
and a lot of the other cosmonauts for a
long time I think I probably first met
Mischa and you know late 90s early 2000s
the same with many of the other
cosmonauts I had been in space with and
when you’re in space with whether it’s a
Russian or a Japanese guy or someone
from a European country or your fellow
you know American crew member you
realize that the most important thing to
you as a group is each other and your
collective safety in you know helping
and supporting one another in an in an
environment that’s very very challenging
so that is that relationship is much
more important to the folks in space
than the relationship may be between our
two nations there are times when we
would talk politics a little bit this
last time I was in space was when you
know the Russian military went into
Syria and we talked about it a little
bit and I think I just said basically
hey I hope you guys can help with this
or figure this out but it would never
become something that would I think get
between us because really we do we’re
live you know literally on each other
for our lives and that’s what’s most
important I mean you are a nation when
you’re up there right I mean
realistically he may be
or American but you are in your own
country in space so that’s yeah that’s a
niche I never thought about it that we
explain it that way regarding Mars so
when do you think that that experience
is actually going to become a reality no
idea when I was on the space station
this last time I was asked a question by
a by a reporter and the question was you
know now that nASA has determined that
some time of the year there is liquid
water on Mars will that help us get
there any sooner I said I don’t know
maybe now if we found money on Mars
that would help us get there because
that’s what we need is money we need
money to go to Mars so someone’s got to
start a propaganda saying there is these
gold mines that we got to go get
actually not many people live there
maybe the Oklahoma land rush similar
yeah it’s just okay but mother well how
much we your brother once said it’s less
it’s less about less about rocket
science and more about political science
I thought it was faster than when your
brothers say what is the dollar amount
what is the dollar amount if we did want
to go to it would you have any idea or
now really I would be guessing but I
would say somewhere between a hundred
and two hundred billion dollars a
hundred to two hundred billion maybe I
don’t know oh wow so that’s that’s real
money if we wanted to go so ain’t chump
change that ain’t chump change but maybe
here’s a question of accuracy know what
you would say about it should we want to
you know we’ve always by nature were
explorers America and just human beings
we kind of want to go explore even when
we’re kids were like I want to know
what’s in that room that Mommy and Daddy
won’t let me go into there’s a certain
part of us that yearns for them do you
think it’s important for us to really go
in the direction of coming together as a
nation or coming together you know as
different nations and say look let’s put
our money together and figure out it we
go see what’s on Mars I I think so I
think you know now not only is it a goal
that we can work on together this is
international partnership we can do it
in a area that is a common ground to all
of us I think there is you know
financial reasons to do it I think doing
the hardest things technologically
causes us to have to develop new
industries and processes that have
benefits
that are you know separate than going to
Mars will have benefits for us here on
earth I think that like you said we are
explorers history will tell us that you
know civilizations that have stopped
expanding and exploring of ceased to
exist so you know at some point on this
earth we were going to have to continue
to venture out into our solar system if
we want to continue to grow and survive
I’m not saying we need to turn Mars into
another earth but I think it is
important for the continued survival of
this planet to be able to grow beyond
the planet because you know we have an
increasing population and there are many
reasons to do this
and if you said you know everything I
said it’s not right I think maybe not
the investment it would take to go to
Mars but certainly a the investment we
currently have like in our space program
the billions of dollars we spend every
year if you didn’t think that money was
worth it we shouldn’t be going into
space for the reasons we do if the only
thing we got out of it is kids in this
country could say hey I’m gonna do my
math and science homework because I want
to work for NASA someday that pays for
itself because you know I go around the
schools and kids are excited about the
space program it makes them be better
students it makes some of them become
scientists and engineers and these are
the jobs that create things which fuel
our economy I think I think your story
Biffen if there’s a kid out there that’s
watching and that series that time did
it bother if you haven’t seen it I
suggest you go on time type in Scott
Kelly and time and we’ll go from one to
three I think it’s 12 episodes I don’t
know the exact address 12 I think it’s
12 episodes the entire experience from
the beginning to the end so you know won
an Emmy they won an Emmy that’s right I
saw that it won an Emmy and I think 2015
you will recognize top 100 most
influential people according to Time
magazine right I think was 20 15 years
so you know in sports there are fans who
have opinions about basketball
then there are basketball players who
have opinions about basketball
meaning if
Kobe Bryant gives you no critiques let’s
just say a basketball player that’s
different than you and I a fan saying I
think such and such as in doing their
part right right or in baseball you’re
an Astros fan if Jeff Bagwell tells Mike
Trout a certain thing that he needs to
pay attention to maybe trout’s gonna
take more feedback from a bag well then
maybe you and I given it to him right so
when you landed your brother mark
he’s also an astronaut what was the
conversation like with him that was so
different than everybody else in the
world that kind of has no clue what
they’re talking about what was that
conversation with somebody that actually
speaks your language where you
appreciated that conversation versus
everyone else well you know it’s it’s
great to have a sibling that has a
similar experience now my brother had
never done a long-duration flight but
just talking to him about it especially
like flying the space shuttle because
we’ve both done that then you know
sharing with him what it’s like on the
Soyuz or do the spacewalk is a real
privilege you know it’s a privilege to
be able to fly in space and then it’s
really you know a privilege really only
my brother and I have where you can
share this kind of experience with a
sibling a couple cosmonauts their dads
were work cosmonauts too but you know
mark and I having the ability to talk
about something that is so incredible
that we both got to do is you know one
of the great privileges of my life
actually I don’t know if it gets better
than that by the way and and I wonder
how your parents think you know when
they see how they were very proud of
Mark and I am I mean what else can their
kids do to make their parents surprised
if you got both of them go up there I
mean that’s a resume check my
grandmother my maternal grandmother when
she was alive had a had a bumper sticker
on her car that said my two my two twin
grandsons are astronauts and I’m sure
people threw like eggs eggs a ya know
they really really you know mark and
Kelly’s got Kelly so okay if somebody’s
watching right now and you know a 10
year old a 12 year old a 14 year
somebody that’s fascinated with space
what books if you were to recommend two
or three books obviously that one book
you recommended earlier what books would
you recommend for someone to
read that either that’s gonna be one
we’re gonna get you to wrap up here
because this will be the last and by the
way if you haven’t seen this book I’m
gonna do some he’s gonna do some sign
and we’ll do some giveaways so hang
tight for that one but what other books
would you recommend for people to
consider getting that you know maybe
inspired you as you were coming up Mike
Collins book carrying the fire is one of
the best astronaut autobiographies there
is the book that inspired from the earth
to the moon by Andrew Chaikin I forget
the name of it but it was basically you
know the history of the Apollo program
and you know the right stuff is a book
that inspired me the right stuff isn’t
just about spaceflight though it’s it’s
also about you know being a test pilot
in the military and working in the
military but you know my inspiration was
was the right stuff but you know I think
you know most people will agree carrying
the fire is you know probably the best
astronaut autobiography so here’s what
we’re gonna be doing first of all to
tell you that I myself I’m grateful that
somebody like you is willing to
sacrifice your life with two kids you
got two kids and you’re willing to make
a decision to go up there for 340 days
so we can become smarter as a nation to
do better the next time we got are we
really prepared to go to Mars and you
put your life on the line and your
family sat down and had this
conversation which I want you to know as
a you know person who was in military
before that’s the highest level for you
to be willing to do that so thank you
for your service but here’s what I want
to do for those of you out there that
are big Scott Kelly fans I know many of
you said Pat I would love to see them on
value tame and I said no problem so
here’s what we’re doing we got some
books here and if you can talk about
this book that you wrote endurance we
got this book here that Scott wrote
endurance a year in space a lifetime of
discovery for those of you that are
truly Scott fans I’m not talking about
somebody that would love to have this
book because you want to have it signed
and put it on the bookshelf and you’re
not going to go through it I want people
that actually followed his material when
he was up there maybe you were on
Twitter that day when he was doing
questions and Barack Obama came up and
said what is it like to be up there and
and who was the the father astronaut
that came back and tweeted and yes so
you know when you when you want to if
you were if you’re if you were following
that entire experience I want you to
tweet him and tweet me and tell me why
you were following his story maybe
you’re the biggest fan of what he was
doing and we’ll pick four winners and
we’ll send four copies signed copies to
four different people but you got to
tweet it out so tweet him and put me in
the handle we’ll pick four winners and
we’ll send a signed copy to four of you
of the book endurance written by the one
and only Scott Kelly is there anything
you want to say about your book before
we finish off the interview here you
know it’s a book about spending a year
in space certainly but it’s also a book
about this kid who couldn’t do his
homework
that figured his stuff out and then
later spent a year in space and did some
pretty interesting things in between
slightly slightly interesting things I
mean that’s to say the least yeah thank
you so much for your thanks riche it’s your pleasure
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