From the time he was a little boy, Mike Massimino wanted to be an astronaut, but he ran into some obstacles. He was afraid of heights, he didn’t like to go fast and he was medically disqualified at one point.
But he overcame those barriers, went on two Hubble telescope service missions and sent the first tweet from space.
He applied to the space program four times and was rejected three.
A bestselling author, TV personality, recurring character on The Big Bang Theory, and engineering professor at Columbia University, Massimino was the John Ben Shepperd Public Leadership Institute Distinguished Lecture Series speaker Thursday at the Wagner Noël Performing Arts Center.
He reviewed his journey to becoming an astronaut with anecdotes and photos, including from space. He also showed a photo of him with his space sidekick Snoopy.
Massimino didn’t really get a chance to look around in space until his second trip.
He said there are no words to describe the beauty of Earth.
“This is what heaven must look like. I felt like looking at our planet was like looking at absolute paradise,” Massimino said.
At first, he was surprised by the commotion on his first mission.
“The two words I kept thinking were speed and power. I remember the power of it. I can’t believe that people could build this and I’m riding in it,” Massimino said.
“After about a minute or so I had the feeling … something was different, felt like I was really leaving the world that I knew.”
He also described the training, which included wearing a 200-pound space suit underwater. The pool is 100 feet wide, 200 feet long and 40 feet deep.
The suits are built with seven layers designed to protect you.
“It’s like a suit of armor. You can’t walk around in this on Earth …,” Massimino said.
He added that the astronaut’s goal is to work and succeed as a team. Also, you should reach out for help.
The telescope was designed to be serviced by astronauts and everything was designed to be taken out and replaced.
Massimino earned a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from Columbia University, a master’s in mechanical engineering and public policy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
He earned a doctor of philosophy degree in mechanical engineering in 1992.
