![]() ![]() Tell me about the day that you got the news that you were accepted into the astronaut corps. We’ve added a few songs over the years but there are what I would consider to be our staple songs that we play most of the time and I’m very familiar with them and I share the duties with another one of the astronauts, Kevin Ford, so he and I split them and we have a great time doing it. They tried to get me to be a singer but then they realized that’s probably not a good thing so I just sit in the back and quietly play the drums. Now as far as the band’s concerned, are you a singer or do you play an instrument or what? We’ve had some opportunity to play at Space Flight Awareness events, to play for the people who maintain the shuttle and the infrastructure surrounding it, so that’s been very advantageous, I think, to give just a little bit back to the community that supports the space program. We don’t have an awful lot of time to practice but we’re good enough and I think just the sheer novelty of having a band comprised of astronauts is sometimes a little intriguing and interesting to people. A lot of us are unavailable at certain times for certain gigs so we’ll alternate back and forth. There’s probably about 12 of us right now and we alternate in roles. I wouldn’t say that we’re great but we’re rather unique in that the members of the band are all astronauts. I know you’re in a band and it’s called Max-Q. So I would say that that was probably the largest single factor that pushed me onward and, and upward. You know, today it’s perceived to almost be a little uncool to be good in science and math but there was an atmosphere that was cultivated that enabled us to be cool and to be smart at the same time. I remember that the light kind of came on for me with regard to science and math in high school. ![]() I had, I had some wonderful teachers in high school. We played golf together and like I said, we were sports fans together.ĭo you see in yourself how Philadelphia and the people there helped make you the person you are today? ![]() We had a good relationship and we had a lot of fun. My dad passed away at an early age so I really cherish those years. So has your dad had a lot of influence on your life? You said that your dad took you to a lot of the games there. I had the opportunity to make some relationships with the media there who followed the mission very closely and I think of them as very supportive of my career as well. I went back there after my last flight, had the opportunity to go to Chris Ferguson Day at Archbishop Ryan High School, which was a great honor for me. So I had a great opportunity to get into the real heart and soul of Philadelphia. I had season tickets with my dad to go watch the Eagles play every Sunday and, if you know anything about football fans, those Philadelphia football fans are pretty rabid. I had a great love for the Philadelphia Eagles, the Philadelphia Phillies. I was very fortunate in that I spent my whole childhood years there. What was it like growing up in Philadelphia? So I wouldn’t say I woke up with the dream one day but my career just led me here. I flew often on an aircraft carrier for about 10 years and as, as my career progressed I realized I had an opportunity to get a graduate degree, to go to the Navy’s test pilot school and then I had, I’d check a lot of the blocks that, that are typically recognized as those qualities that might be applicable to joining the astronaut corps. ![]() I always had an interest in thing that I found intriguing, things I didn’t completely understand so I got in naval aviation because I thought an aircraft carrier was probably one of the most amazing things in the world. I watched Skylab and while I was in college I watched the first space shuttle flight. Well, like a lot of people my age, I grew up as a young adolescent in the Apollo era and I watched the first men walk on the moon. What was it that motivated you to become an astronaut? Photo Credit: NASA Chris, of all the careers in the entire world that a person could aspire to, you ended up a professional space traveler. ![]()
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