SUMMARY: It's completely improbable that Mike Massimino actually became an astronaut. With a fear of heights, impaired vision and difficulty with swimming, he calls his achievement a miracle, but his is a story of overcoming setbacks. In his new book, “Spaceman,” Massimino details his long and difficult journey. He talks with science correspondent Miles O'Brien.
MILES O'BRIEN (NewsHour): Mike Massimino went to low-Earth orbit twice aboard the space shuttle, both times to repair the Hubble space telescope. In his new book, “Spaceman,” he details the long and difficult journey he took to become an astronaut.
So, you're afraid of heights.
MICHAEL MASSIMINO, Author, “Spaceman”: Yes, I still am. I don't like this right here, Miles. I'm a little worried.
MILES O'BRIEN: You don't swim very well.
MICHAEL MASSIMINO: No. The hardest thing for me as an astronaut was to improve my swimming skills.
MILES O'BRIEN: Vision was a problem, a real problem.
MICHAEL MASSIMINO: Imagine being D.Q.ed because I couldn't see well enough.
MILES O'BRIEN: And you barely got through the program at MIT.
MICHAEL MASSIMINO: Yes. Yes. Yap.
MILES O'BRIEN: So, really, it's completely improbable that you became an astronaut. Right?
It occurs to me, though, that the lessons you learned all along the way, then, dealing — coping and dealing with those setbacks, those failures, the resilience, are exactly what you need to go through to become an astronaut.
MICHAEL MASSIMINO: Aha. Now we're getting at something.
I think you're right, yes. It's not a question of being the best at something or things coming easy to you, but it's being a person that can work with others and not give up. And, for me, that was part of it too.
At every step of the way, when I had trouble, there were people that came in, in my life that helped me. It's important to go seek help when you need it, and to give help when other people need it. And that is really more important than coming in with a gigantic brain into the astronaut program.
SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft, which aims to make the first-ever commercial space flight to dock with the ISS, has been delayed. The unmanned craft was due to fly to the space station on February 7, but additional testing is needed and now it won't launch until late March. SpaceX is one of several companies vying for ISS visiting privileges.
The first commercial cargo run to the International Space Station is off until spring. SpaceX planned to launch its unmanned supply ship from Cape Canaveral on Feb. 7. But the company said more testing was needed with the spacecraft, named Dragon. And on Friday, officials confirmed the launch would not occur until late March.
Space station commander Daniel Burbank said as much as he'd like to take part in the historic event, it's important that SpaceX fly when it's ready. Burbank will return to Earth in mid-March.
"If that's not to be during our mission, then that's OK," Burbank said in an interview Friday with The Associated Press. "We've got plenty of other things to occupy us ... but they'll fly when they're ready and they'll fly when they need to."
Just over a year ago, the California-based Space Exploration Technologies Corp. launched a test version of the capsule, becoming the first private business to send a spacecraft into orbit and return it safely. NASA is counting on companies like SpaceX to keep the station stocked, now that the shuttles are retired.
Until then, the Russian, European and Japanese space agencies -- all government entities -- are picking up the slack as best they can, sending up regular shipments to the orbiting outpost.
SpaceX spokeswoman Kirstin Grantham pointed out that this is a developmental program for her company, and everyone wants it to be a complete success.
"It may take a little more time, but when it happens, it's going to be amazing," she said.
This first Dragon capsule to visit the space station will carry several hundred pounds of astronaut provisions -- nothing crucial, in case of a failure.
Astronauts aboard the space station will use a huge robot arm to grab and berth the Dragon.
"This will be one step in the long road to human expansion off of the planet into low-Earth orbit and beyond," space station astronaut Donald Pettit said Friday. He is barely one month into a five-month mission.
The beauty of the Dragon is that it will be able to return scientific samples to Earth, Burbank noted. None of the other countries' supply ships can do that; they burn up on re-entry.
Americans Burbank and Pettit, three Russians and a Dutchman make up the six-man crew.
NASA closed out its 30-year shuttle program last July.
"There have been some impacts ... the shuttle did all the heavy lifting" for space station, Burbank said. There's excess equipment and trash on board, especially given the loss of a Russian supply ship in a launch accident last year. Those cargo carriers are filled with garbage before being jettisoned.
"I think we're getting by OK," Burbank said, "but we need to have as much up-mass and down-mass capability as we can to support space station operations at the level we need it."
SpaceX -- run by PayPal co-founder Elon Musk -- is one of several companies vying for space station visiting privileges. Its long-term goal is to modify its Falcon rocket and Dragon capsule to ferry astronauts to the station.
In the meantime, Americans are buying seats on Russian Soyuz spacecraft.
The last astronaut to command the space shuttle is retiring from NASA, the space agency announced Monday, Dec. 5.
Astronaut Chris Ferguson, who commanded the final mission of NASA's 30-year space shuttle program in July, will retire from the space agency on Friday Dec. 9.
According to NASA, Ferguson is leaving to accept a new job in the private sector.
"A tough decision to leave folks, but good things await... and I get to stay in the business," Ferguson wrote on Twitter soon after his pending departure was announced today.
Neither NASA nor Ferguson revealed where he would be working next.
"Chris has been a true leader at NASA, not just as a commander of the space shuttle, but also as an exemplary civil servant, a distinguished Navy officer and a good friend," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said in a statement. "I am confident he will succeed in his next career as he brings his skill and talents to new endeavors." [Photos: NASA's Last Shuttle Mission in Pictures]
An astronaut since 1998, Ferguson first flew in space as the pilot of shuttle Atlantis on the STS-115 mission in 2006. During the flight, he and his crewmates delivered portions of the International Space Station's backbone to extend the outpost's truss structure.
Ferguson next commanded shuttle Endeavour in 2008. During that STS-126 mission, Ferguson and his crew delivered water recycling and habitation hardware to the station, and dropped off a new long-term resident for the orbiting laboratory, bringing home the astronaut she replaced.
His third and last flight to space was also the final mission for the space shuttle program. During the 13-day STS-135 mission, Ferguson and his crew delivered approximately 10,000 pounds of supplies and spare parts to the space station to help outfit it for the post-space shuttle era.
In total, Ferguson logged 40 days, 10 hours and four minutes in space.
On the ground, Ferguson served as a spacecraft communicator, or capcom, in Mission Control, and from November 2009 to September 2010, was deputy chief of the Astronaut Office at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.
"Chris has been a great friend, a tremendous professional and an invaluable asset to the NASA team and the astronaut office," Peggy Whitson, chief of the Astronaut Office, said. "His exceptional leadership helped ensure a perfect final flight of the space shuttle, a fitting tribute to the thousands who made the program possible."
In addition to his formal roles in the Astronaut Office, Ferguson also played the drums in the all-astronaut band "Max Q."
Since landing shuttle Atlantis on July 21, Ferguson and his STS-135 crewmates completed a tour of NASA facilities and public venues to share their mission stories and express their thanks to those who helped make the mission — and the shuttle program — a success. Their tour ended last month with a visit to the White House and then a photo shoot with the crew of the first shuttle mission.
"We're done," Ferguson told the Houston Chronicle in early November. "Everyone goes their separate ways right now. From the crew office standpoint, the shuttle program is over."
Ferguson’s departure from NASA follows a number of his fellow shuttle astronauts who have left over the past few months, including Steven Lindsey and Mark Kelly, who commanded the final flights of shuttles Discovery and Endeavour, respectively.
To compensate for these departures and to meet the needs of the International Space Station and other post-shuttle space exploration programs, NASA began recruiting for a new class of astronaut candidates on Nov. 15. The space agency expects to hire between nine and 15 new trainees by March 2013.
These astronauts will continue to ride to the space station aboard Russian Soyuz spacecraft, until a commercial American vehicle is ready to fly them. The new astronaut class could also be among the first people to fly on NASA's planned missions to an asteroid in 2025 and to Mars in the mid 2030s.
In the faintest glimmer of dawn, Atlantis safely touched down Thursday, ending the flawless final mission of NASA's space shuttle program.
With Commander Chris Ferguson at the helm, Atlantis landed at Kennedy Space Center at 5:57 a.m. on a cloudless, windless morning. When the orbiter's wheels stopped a minute later, NASA saluted 30 years of triumph and tragedy for a shuttle program that has kept the United States at the forefront of manned space flight since 1981.
"The space shuttle changed the way we view the world and changed the way we view the universe," Ferguson said. "We have emotion today, but one thing is indisputable: America is not going to stop exploring.
"Thank you Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Endeavour and our ship Atlantis," Ferguson continued, acknowledging the other orbiters. "Thank you for protecting us and bringing this program to such a fitting end. God bless all of you. God bless the United States of America."
The mission, Atlantis' 33rd and the shuttle program's 135th, carried a year's worth of supplies to the International Space Station. It equipped and stocked that space lab to become the new centerpiece of NASA's manned space flight program until the agency can develop the deep-space rockets it wants to build. That could take a decade or more.
"Everything worked just flawlessly," NASA Associate Administrator Bill Gerstenmaier said of Atlantis' final mission.
The $100-billion space station, with a six-member international crew — currently three Russians, two Americans and one Japanese — has been the crowning achievement of the shuttle, which was first launched in April 1981 as a do-all space truck capable of science, military, commercial and exploration missions.
The five shuttles launched satellites and space probes; they deployed some of humanity's great observatories, including the Hubble Space Telescope.
There was also heartbreak. In 1986, Challenger exploded shortly after liftoff, killing seven astronauts, and in 2003 Columbia broke up reentering Earth's atmosphere, also killing seven astronauts.
"It's been an extraordinary spacecraft," said Marion Blakey, president of the Aerospace Industries Assn. "And I think it's fair to say has pioneered work in a variety of areas beyond simply accomplishing what is an extraordinary feat, that is building the International Space Station."
Atlantis — which will go on exhibit at Kennedy Space Center — will join Discovery and Endeavour in retirement. Endeavour will become the centerpiece of a new wing at the California Science Center in Los Angeles.
The U.S. shuttle program will end after space shuttle Atlantis returns to Earth on July 21. Retired NASA astronaut Leroy Chiao captured this reality on All Things Considered:
"After this mission, we will no longer have the ability to send American astronauts into space ourselves," Chiao said. "And arguably, we will no longer be the leaders in human space flight until we get that capability back."
Arguably, the leader in space flight will, for now, be Russia. American astronauts will rely solely on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft to reach orbit. After years of space rivalry between the two sides, this might seem like a time for Russians to feel pride. But not all Russians see it that way.
On April 12, 1961, five days before the Bay of Pigs invasion, Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space. "American prestige was jolted as the world heard the quickened pulse of Vostok 1 orbiting the Earth," Walter Cronkite recalled. Gagarin got a hero's welcome in Moscow's Red Square — he had given the Soviets the lead in the space race.
Five decades later, a towering statue of the man stands in south Moscow's Yuri Gagarin Square.
"People call it 'the penguin' because if you look, it looks like a penguin," says Yuri Karash, who has studied and written about Russian space policy for years. He remembers how Gagarin's adventure gave citizens a feeling that their sacrifice for the state was worth it.
"American could not do it, OK? Western Europe could not do it. No other country in the world could do it," Karash says. "But the Soviet state could."
Russia's Opportunity?
Today feels different. Yes, the U.S. shuttle program is ending and Americans will depend on Russian technology. But many Russians sound melancholy. They believe it won't be long before the U.S. develops a new spacecraft that will beat anything Russia has.
Karash captures the sentiment this way: What if a Mercedes broke down in the desert? The driver would find another reliable ride, until he got his hands on a new Mercedes.
"So you suddenly see a Bedouin riding a camel on the shoulder and you ask him, 'Hey, guy, do me a favor, give me a lift to someplace.' And he says, 'No problem. Pay me $63 million and I'll take you there.' Does it mean camel is better than Mercedes?"
Just a few steps away from Gagarin's statue is a little mall that is full of vendors who sell things such as carpets and kitchen supplies. The people who work in the mall walk past the statue of the Soviet space hero every day.
For 38-year-old Igor Malashkevich, who sells tools in the mall, the glory embodied in that statue has faded. On the world stage today, he feels like Russia is weaker than during Soviet times. He says his country needs more respect from the U.S. Maybe, he says, carrying Americans to space is Russia's opportunity.
"I don't think there is something we can be proud of about it, because we are dependent on the States in many other ways and many respects," Malashkevich says.
A Friend To The West
This kind of talk is not uncommon in Russia today. After feeling technologically superior in Soviet times, today, some Russians feel their military is in disrepair, scientists are cash-strapped and the space program has fallen behind.
Vera Kuznetsova, who sells kitchen supplies, was born the year Gagarin made that first orbit.
"We were first and could not be beaten," she said. "But that was the Soviet Union." She feels her country now lags behind in science and technology, but adds she's happy her country is no longer feared by the West.
That was the theme Thursday when a new statue of Gagarin was unveiled — not in Moscow, but in London, near Buckingham Palace, right by a statue of the great British explorer James Cook.
Sergei Krikalyov, who heads Russia's Gagarin Center for Cosmonaut Training, was there for the unveiling. He called the setting appropriate.
"Captain Cook, who was a navigator on Earth, and Gagarin, who was first navigator outside our planet, are standing looking at each other. I think it's very symbolic," Krikalyov says.
It's a symbol, he said, that Russia is no longer a rival to the West, but a friend — and a reliable ride into space.
Before sending Space Shuttle Discovery to the Smithsonian, NASA let our cameras into the shuttle's hangar to get you closer than ever before.
A dwindling but dedicated team of Floridians has been preparing space shuttles for launch at Kennedy Space Center for decades.
Now, they're getting the flagship of the fleet -- Discovery -- ready for its final stop, the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington.
I am Retired U.S. Navy (22yrs) and a Vietnam Veteran. After my Navy retirement I was in the computer related industry, now retired. In 2000 I was a registered Republican and voted for George W. Bush. Six months of having Bush in the Whitehouse forced me to re-evaluate my political stance. I had always thought of myself as a Moderate Republican, but was a Republican by "default" NOT because of close examination of the GOP. Due to what has happened in America since 2000, I now consider myself a progressive, and registered as a Non-Affiliated voter.
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