RideShare RoadTalk: Conversations In Motion
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A Washington DC based podcast where unfiltered talk space examines the meaningful lives of local and visiting ride-share passengers.
We'll engage in topical (and personal) conversations and explore our varying perspectives on politics, culture and DC hot spots while enjoying the ever changing landscape of the Nation's Capital. So buckle up and join the conversation...Let's drive!
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RideShare RoadTalk: Conversations In Motion
You Flew On The Space Shuttle?
INQUIRIES: 301 651 7921
In a true other worldly moment, we wound up driving Roger Keith Crouch (an American scientist and astronaut), who flew as a payload specialist on two NASA Space Shuttle missions in 1997. Sometimes the most extraordinary stories appear in the most ordinary places. #Let'sDrive in 3. 2. 1...
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Welcome to another episode of Rideshare Road Talk Conversations in Motion, a podcast where we create unfiltered talk space that examines the meaningful lives of my passengers while engaging in personal and topical discussions. The meaningful lives of my passengers while engaging in personal and topical discussions. I'm your host and driver, john fontes, and we're cruising the streets of washington dc. Buckle up let's drive.
Speaker 2:You've been in outer space.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'd like you to get to go a couple of times.
Speaker 2:Wow, I'm, I'm normally not stumped for questions, but I don't even know where to start. I flew in April of 1997 and we had a major malfunction and had to abort the mission and we were supposed to be up for 16 days but we only stayed for four. Takes four days actually going orbit. You just go around the Earth but the Earth turns so that you come up farther west each time Takes four days to get back over Florida in the configuration where you can land. And they were getting ready to build the space station and they said would you be willing to go again, Cause we think we're gonna be flying people a lot more often and we wanna see if the human body can withstand two flights fairly quickly. So 88 days later we went back and did the full 16-day mission.
Speaker 1:so I was pretty lucky and obviously that's off the shuttle right or one of them.
Speaker 2:It's on the columbia, yeah wow, not the one that exploded.
Speaker 1:How did that trajectory, pun intended, start Like how did that happen? Say again, how did that happen? I mean, were you in the military flying aircraft?
Speaker 2:No, I was a scientist and it was a science mission and I was picked to do the science experiments, some of the science experiments on Ronda.
Speaker 1:So you went through the same training, obviously, as.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I tried for 56 almost.
Speaker 1:I was almost 57 when I found out I could fly.
Speaker 2:And I started flying when I got out of college. So it took me 30 some years to get picked. I'm colorblind, so I didn't qualify for the regular pilot or I tried to get in the Navy when I was in high school and I couldn't get in. And I tried the Marines and they didn't want me. And I tried the Air Force and they wouldn't even let me be in the Air Force. I was so colorblind and I tried for the astronaut for years before I found out that being colorblind disqualified you. But then, when I was 40.
Speaker 1:I mean, how much color can there be in the vacuum of space?
Speaker 2:Well, the trouble was seeing the red lights and the green lights inside of the cellar. Okay, that's fair, that's fair. Then, when I was 40, I found out they started a new class of astronauts where you could be colorblind. But it took me 16 years after that to finally get picked. So I was 56.
Speaker 1:That's just spectacular. That's amazing.
Speaker 2:My mom taught me to do it. Well, she was sorry she did it, but she taught me to be very persistent or stubborn. Never give up.
Speaker 1:I mean that moment when you're strapped in and you're pinned in that seat and those Gs start hitting. I mean my God man.
Speaker 2:I thought I'd God man, like what I thought I'd be real scared and I talked to some of the guys about it and that had flown. You know more than once. I said aren't you afraid? And they said well, of course you'd be afraid. You're on four and a half million pounds of explosive built by the low bidder. I said, well, if you're trying to help me here, you're not doing much good.
Speaker 2:And he said well, look at it like this he said if you run away, you're going to be afraid every time you go out in public. You'll meet somebody that comes up and says, hey, I know you, you're that astronaut that ran away. I said, yeah, that'd be embarrassing. And he said, well, and then if you get on there and it's a bad day, you're dead.
Speaker 2:it's your family's problem you don't have to worry about it and you'll be immortal yeah, and I said I said well, I don't like putting it on the family, but that's okay. And then we were going after the launch pad and I wasn't afraid and I thought maybe I am a.
Speaker 1:He said I'd be a, don't be afraid and uh, I think that it like once you're, once it's happening, you're just like, okay, it's happening, but that lead up it had to be just like, well, hunker time for hours, just you know, having to think about it and I thought well, I've been trying for 30 some years to get picked.
Speaker 2:I finally get picked. Had all these different jobs met, all these people done all these things that qualified me to do this or help me get picked. Had all these different jobs met all these people done all these things that qualified me to do this or help me get picked to do this? So if god went to all that trouble to put me on the shuttle today just so he could kill me, he's going to get me no matter where I am. So I was able to take a nap before we took off. We were on our back a couple hours going through the final checklist and I felt pretty lucky to be sleepy.
Speaker 1:Wow, I didn't know you back there they prep you with anything to kind of calm your nerves beta blockers, anything like that to kind of calm you down, or I guess they would if you weren't them. Yeah wow, okay, how does this ride compare to the?
Speaker 2:one we're in. I mean, are we even in the?
Speaker 1:ballpark. I can go a little faster if you want me to, but you know.
Speaker 2:A bunch of grunts in the road. Well, the two guys that flew together went up and said his pulse rate went up. Now you want to stop here and let them out, Y'all want to get out here and I'll run and get the key.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay.
Speaker 2:Anyway, one of them's heart rate went up to 120 and the other one up to 72. What'd yours go up to do? You know Not much, wow, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1:So are we ending the ride here, correct, okay, excellent, we're just up there, okay, ladies, thank you very much. Thank you um lovely chatting with you. Yeah, what a privilege, what a privilege. Google him, oh, I will. I will wow, wow.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to this episode of Rideshare Road Talk. If you've enjoyed what you've heard, we'd love for you to review the podcast on your favorite listening platform, like Apple or Spotify. Your support helps us so much, and don't forget to reach out on Instagram with your feedback or topic suggestions. Until next time, let's drive.
