Follow Your Dreams
Module Two
Lesson Four: Follow Your Dreams
1. Do you have a dream? Perhaps it’s something you want to do or be. Do you think it’s worthwhile to follow that dream or is it just a dream not worth pursuing? You’ll never know unless you build yourself a plan to get what you want and make that dream a reality. Regardless of what you do, never let anyone tell you your dream is not possible, or that it’s silly to think about such things, or that you’ll never amount to anything. Remember the concept of P.O.W.E.R.? If you believe in yourself and follow that concept or one like it, you know you cannot follow that type of defeatist criticism.
2. What you must do is design a plan of action that safely, rationally, and logically get’s you where you need to be…upcoming lessons will talk more about how to do that. But before we get there I’d like you to read about someone who started off with an idea and a dream and then did all he could do to make his dream come true. This person (as they say) went for the stars and actually got there…I say this because it’s true and because you too are capable of great and wonderous things. Please read the following article and see what you think:
Astronaut Speaks Frankly
Mike Mullane shares space shuttle stories with students
Alamogordo Daily News
By: Laura London, Staff Writer
Posted: 11/15/2009 12:00:00 AM MST
Astronaut Mike Mullane, who has been to space three times aboard space shuttles Discovery and Atlantis, spoke at the Alamogordo Family Recreation Center gym Saturday about his space experiences and to inspire his audience to make their dreams come true.
Mullane’s message focused on four things: do your best, dream big, take care of your body and make education the number one priority. He strongly advised students to practice those four fundamentals every day of their lives in order to make any dream come true.
Mullane said he originally wanted to be an Air Force jet pilot when he was a child, but when he was 12, the Russians launched Sputnik and Mullane wanted to be an astronaut ever since. He said he eventually got to be an astronaut because he did some things along the way that “accidentally” helped to bring him that opportunity.
Mullane said people often assume he was a “super child” because of his achievements.
“Get it out of your mind I was some gifted child,” Mullane said.
He told the audience he was never popular in school, never all that attractive and certainly no genius. In fact, he showed a slide of his high school yearbook dedication page, which had only one thing written on it: “You missed Korea, here’s hoping you make Vietnam.”
Mullane stressed to his audience, mostly elementary and middle school children during the afternoon session, that it takes other things besides popularity, looks or outstanding intelligence to make a dream come true.
Mullane said his grades were not even high enough to get him into the Air Force Academy; instead, he went to West Point. He graduated from there in 1967 and was commissioned in the Air Force. He could not be a pilot as he had hoped, however, because his vision was not good enough. Back then, he said all astronauts were pilots first.
Mullane said he became a weapon systems operator aboard F-4 Phantom aircraft instead. Although he thought his dream of becoming an astronaut was dead, he kept working hard and became an aeronautical engineer. He decided to be the best at it he could be.
“Ten years later NASA changed the rules,” Mullane said.
No longer did all astronauts have to be pilots, so Mullane became a mission specialist in 1978.
“I am an astronaut because for 10 years I did my best when I didn’t think it counted,” Mullane said.
Throughout his presentation, Mullane kept repeating the saying “Life is like a box of chocolates you never know what you’re going to get.” He said no one can see the future, and opportunities will present themselves in the future to those who do their best in the present. He encouraged students to dream big and not to plan their lives around what family members or friends are doing.
Mullane then talked about what it was like to go into space, and even showed a short video clip of the first football game played in the weightlessness of space. He then explained the weightlessness of space a misnomer, he said, because gravity is not absent in space. Gravity only diminishes the farther from earth the spacecraft goes.
Mullane said the apparent “weightlessness” results because a spacecraft in orbit is actually in a continuous free fall around the earth. He showed a video clip of an airplane that can simulate the low gravity of space, by going into a free fall. The clip showed the occupants floating about inside.
“But notice what happens when they put on the brakes,” Mullane said, and the people on the screen suddenly crashed down from their apparent levitation, to the humor and delight of the students watching.
Mullane said about half of astronauts get sick and vomit when the go into space and no one yet knows why. He said whether or not a person gets carsick, seasick or any other type of motion sickness on earth doesn’t seem to have any bearing on whether they will be sick in space. He noted it was important for them to get over the sickness before donning a space suit and doing any space walking, for if they vomited in their helmet, they could end up breathing it back in and choking on it.
Mullane also said it is a myth that the Great Wall of China is the only man-made object that can be seen from space. He said astronauts can easily see roads, cities and even jet contrails from space.
Mullane also explained how astronauts have to go to the bathroom in space. For urine, he said astronauts go into a tube with a specially fitted end for male or female astronauts. For solid waste, he explained they have to strap themselves onto a receptacle that they can close when finished.
He showed a video clip of urine being jettisoned from the craft, saying it was “magnificent” to see because it froze right away and created sort of a light display. He said solid waste, however, is not similarly jettisoned.
“It would give a new meaning to wishing upon a falling star,” Mullane joked.
He also showed students a still photo of a diaper, or “urine collection device,” astronauts must wear whenever they are in their space suit which includes during takeoff, landing and any space walks. Mullane said space walks could last up to eight hours, and they don’t include bathroom breaks.
Mullane said the second most-asked question he hears the one about how astronauts use the bathroom is first is whether there are aliens. He said he’s never seen one, or evidence of any, but does believe there is other life in the universe.
“But I don’t think they travel here,” Mullane said. “But of course, that’s just my opinion that is not science.”
At the end of the presentation, Mullane invited questions from the audience. One boy asked if a BB would travel in slow motion if fired in space.
Mullane said a BB or a bullet would go just as fast in space as on earth, and the low gravity would make no difference. However, he said the recoil from firing any sort of gun would leave the shooter spinning due to the low gravity.
Another child asked what Mullane would do if he ever actually did see an alien.
“I would get on the microphone and say, ‘Houston, we have a problem,’” Mullane said. When the laughter subsided, he added that astronauts do not carry weapons into space.
Mullane was born in Witchita Falls, Texas, but currently resides in Albuquerque. He holds a Master of Science degree in aeronautical engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology and is also a graduate of the Air Force Flight Test Engineer School at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. He has been inducted into the International Space Hall of Fame and has received many awards, including the Air Force Distinguished Flying Cross, Legion of Merit and the NASA Space Flight Medal.
Since his retirement from NASA in 1990, Mullane has written a children’s book, “Liftoff! An Astronaut’s Dream”; a popular space fact book, “Do Your Ears Pop in Space?” and a memoir, “Riding Rockets: The Outrageous Tales of a Space Shuttle Astronaut.”
3. I added the extra highlights to those comments that now appear in bold print. I did this to emphasize the fact that this gentlemen said some of the exact same things we have discussed and he too obviously believes that you have to work hard to get where you want to be. Never give up on yourself, never quit, and never settle for doing less than what your very best will get you.
Conclusion: Remember, never let anyone tear you down or insist that you are less than you know you need to be. Feel free to let me know if you did or did not like this particular lesson by leaving your comments or complaints. Note: Article reprinted from the Alamogordo Daily Times, which can be found at: www.alamogordonews.com.
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