(gentle music) (engine flaring)
- I think I have the coolest job in the military.
I think I have the coolest job on the planet,
quite honestly, or off the planet.
I thought of being an astronaut kinda like
being a professional football player.
Like little kids might dream of doing that but come on,
that's not really reality and I put that in the same
ball park as that.
I thought that would be really awesome but superheroes
get to do that and I'm not a superhero.
When I was a lieutenant in the Army,
my boss handed me the memorandum.
In fact, this would've been 1990 probably.
Ya know, army was looking for people that
had the following minimum qualifications
to apply to the astronauts.
That was the first time it occurred to me
that that was, real people got to do that.
- There are a variety of pathways to become an astronaut.
We have many that have backgrounds in aviation as pilots,
also as engineers, as scientists,
and then medical doctors make up one of the professions
that often become astronauts, but there are a variety
of different professions you can have and all of those
are valid pathways to become an astronaut.
- You know, I look at my bio and one of the things
that makes me proudest is that I made
my 10-year-old self proud and so, when I talk to
young women and young men that have high career
aspirations to do anything, professional sports,
military, a doctor, I mean, Congressman,
whatever they wanna do, the big thing is to be
true to yourself and to be passionate.
We tell this to candidates that come and they wanna be
astronauts and they always ask us,
they say, "Should I go to this university?
"Should I major in this or that?
"Should I get this job?"
We say, "You have to do what you're passionate about
"because otherwise, you're never gonna have enough energy
"to do all the hard work that it takes
"if you don't actually enjoy doing it."
- The nice thing about it is, in the process of trying to
become an astronaut, you can pick up a lot of
other skills, but don't make success or failure
for your entire life be based on whether or not
you become an astronaut.
The path to that though has so many benefits.
Seeking more education, just working hard in a team,
making sure that your teams are successful.
It's not all about the individual, you being the best
all the time, it's about you making sure all the other
people around you are their best.
- My Army career was better than I could've imagined it.
There are so many opportunities out there and I looked
for those challenges and I took them
and the Army never disappointed.
I was able to become an astronaut because I had
those opportunities that the Army presented.
I had the skills that the Army gave to me and so,
whatever your dream is, whether that has anything to do
with the space program at all, whatever it is,
your goal is, the Army can help you get there.
- But you know what's neat about being here is that
you just step back and you get to do so many cool things,
ya know, and contribute to something that is so unifying.
No matter where you go, people know astronauts
and it's respectful and I think it's so unifying.
Right now, in our world, anything that can be
such a unifying force not only across our nation,
but across the world, is really vital right now.
- [Reporter] Mark Vande Hei, Alexander Misurkin,
and Joe Acaba lifting off and now on their way
to the International Space Station.
- When I first looked out that window,
what really struck me was how big the contrast was
between the sunlit Earth and the absolute
blackness of space.
It made the Earth seem very isolated to me.
That was the emotion I had, but the grandure
of the Earth was amazing.
It's so important for the Army to have astronauts
because we have always been involved in
exploration in the United States.
In fact, the core of engineers in the Army
helped explore the western United States
and Lewis and Clark involved, their expeditions
involved the Army.
So, I think historically, it makes sense and it's something
we're just continuing.
There's a long tradition of it.
(gentle music)