Dreams have no shortcuts, record-setting astronaut Scott Kelly tells kids in Morristown

Astronaut Scott Kelly addresses Morris County schoolkids at MPAC in Morristown. Photo by Kevin Coughlin
Astronaut Scott Kelly addresses Morris County schoolkids at MPAC in Morristown. Photo by Kevin Coughlin
0

 

President Kennedy famously challenged Americans to go to the moon not because it was easy, but because it was hard.

Nearly six decades later, the same advice still applies, according to a record-setting spaceman.

Scott Kelly speaks against backdrop from his year in space. Photo by Kevin Coughlin
Scott Kelly speaks against backdrop from his year in space. Photo by Kevin Coughlin

“After spending a year in space, I’m a true believer now that if we can dream it, we can do it,” retired NASA astronaut Capt. Scott Kelly told hundreds of Morris County schoolkids at Morristown’s Mayo Performing Arts Center on Friday.

Mars, cancer cures, environmental solutions–all are within reach, Kelly said, “if we have a goal and a plan, if we’re willing to take risks, and make mistakes, if we focus on the things we can control, and ignore what we can’t, and if we work as a team.

“Because teamwork makes a dream work. We can choose to do the hard things, and if we do that, then the sky is definitely not the limit.”

Last March, the West Orange native completed nearly a year aboard the International Space Station. It was the longest space foray by an American. Combined with a prior stint on the ISS, and two space shuttle missions, he has logged 520 days in space, second on NASA’s all-time list.

His twin brother, Capt. Mark Kelly, spent 54 days in space; NASA is comparing their DNA to see if Scott sustained any physical damage from his extra time aloft.

 

The earth at 17,500 mph. Photo by Scott Kelly, courtesy of NASA.
The earth at 17,500 mph. Photo by Scott Kelly, courtesy of NASA.

 

THE RIGHT STUFF

Scott Kelly was a sub-par student, by his own account. As a first-grader, he expressed a desire — parroting a pal in the boys room–to become an astronaut. He never gave it a second thought until college, when he stumbled upon The Right Stuff, Tom Wolfe’s book about America’s first astronauts.

He nearly washed out as a Navy aviator when he botched a landing on an aircraft carrier. The Navy offered a second chance, and he took it.

JUGGLING IN ZERO-G: Scott Kelly aboard the International Space Station. Photo courtesy of NASA.
JUGGLING IN ZERO-G: Scott Kelly aboard the International Space Station. Photo courtesy of NASA.

“I decided I was going to take the risk of failing to do something that was really, really hard. It you’re going to fail at something, you might as well fail at the hard thing, not the easier thing,” said Kelly, 52, whose parents were police officers.

Life in space was not easy. Floating in zero gravity was fun, he said, “but it makes almost everything else really, really hard to do.” Imagine having to Velcro clothes to your bedroom wall to keep them from floating away, Kelly told his young audience.

There was a close call when a Russian satellite zoomed past the space station.  Views of earth and the heavens were awesome, yet Kelly missed his family, fresh air, wind and rain.

He drank recycled urine (“Eeeewwwwww!!!” was the collective response inside the theater), and he had to exercise frequently to maintain bone density and muscle mass in space.

Returning to earth in the space shuttle is like cruising home in a Rolls Royce, compared with the cramped Russian Soyuz capsule from the space station, said Kelly, who is writing a book about his year-long adventure, also documented by PBS.

“There’s all these explosions going off around your head. There’s stuff hitting the window. You hit the atmosphere, and you are in this fireball. And it’s like the sun is right at the side of your head outside this window. And it starts getting hot inside,” Kelly recounted.

“It’s kind of like going over Niagara Falls in a barrel–but while you’re on fire,” he added. “As soon as you realize you’re not going to die, this is the most fun you’ve ever had in your whole life.”

PICK ME! Young students from across Morris County have questions for astronaut Scott Kelly. Photo by Kevin Coughlin
PICK ME! Young students from across Morris County have questions for astronaut Scott Kelly. Photo by Kevin Coughlin

DOWN TO EARTH

Kelly said his proudest moment in space was a message from earth, about a tough choice made by his daughter Charlotte, then 12. Choosing sides for a playground game, she picked a disabled kid who always got passed over.

“It wasn’t the popular thing for her to do. It was the right thing. It was a hard thing to do. Doing hard things is so, so important in our lives,” said Kelly.

Landing in Kazakhstan, he breathed fresh air for what felt like the first time. He savored his first shower in a year, and sleeping in a real bed. For a couple of weeks, he experienced the blisters, sore feet and flu symptoms that follow prolonged space flight.

Reflecting on his lofty achievement, he took the greatest satisfaction from a simple realization:

“It was that I had done the hardest thing I will ever do in my entire life, spending a year in space. And that was absolutely the best part.”

TEAMWORK, PRE-ELECTION STYLE: U.S. astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko aboard International Space Station. Photo courtesy of NASA.
TEAMWORK: U.S. astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko aboard the International Space Station. Kelly retired from NASA in 2016. Photo courtesy of NASA.

LEAVE A REPLY