Astronauts Training for Moon Missions | National Geographic
(Uplifting music)
I'm astronaut Nicole Mann.
I am astronaut Frank Rubio.
I am NASA astronaut Jessica Meir.
So there's about a million things going through my mind as I think about going to the moon.
You know that the little kid inside of me just gets super excited.
For me, that has always been this dream mission, this driving exploration and curiosity of that next step.
You know, just the excitement, the amount of effort and the teamwork that goes into such an amazing expedition, and really what it means to humanity. So it's very exciting.
If I can be a part of those missions in any capacity, it will truly be a dream come true.
I think it is important that in 2024, we're gonna see the first woman walk on the moon and the next man.
And it is a huge team effort, but what it does, it just shows the diversity that we have in NASA, in the United States, really in the world that the barriers are broken down.
I think for all of us that are involved on this Artemis team, we would all be absolutely thrilled to be the first woman on the moon.
And to know that even if it's not me, that I probably know the first woman that's going to set foot on the moon is something that is so fulfilling.
So it really wasn't until a little bit later on in life that I realized that I wanted to be an astronaut.
You know, as a young woman, I was interested in math and science, but I didn't realize maybe the possibilities that were out there.
My mom says I first started saying I wanted to be an astronaut when I was five years old.
Everybody associated that with me all through my childhood.
My dream was always to be a physician and to be an army doctor and then to be a special forces doctor.
And so I was kinda living my dream and I was in my dream job.
And then a friend recommended that I try out for the program.
So it was really very late.
I think for me it was really a combination of things of having this fascination for science and nature and the world around me.
The fact that I can continue to be a part of something that's bigger than myself.
So many things out there, you should never limit yourself.
The possibilities are absolutely endless.
I think he's pretty excited.
I think, you know, he's a little worried about me leaving home for an extended period of time, I think.
He's only eight, so I think as any eight-year-old kid would be, but I think he's also very excited.
And I tell you it's different now.
Sometimes we always sit outside and we love to look at the stars and look at the moon.
But now I think both of us look at it with a little different light in our eyes and a little different twinkle, knowing that, you know, someday soon we're gonna be, you know, back there on the moon.
And hopefully someday he'll be able to watch mom fly by and walk on the moon.
When we do hard things and we challenge ourselves as humanity to take on big challenges, it brings us together and it pushes us to develop new technologies, new ideas.
I think exploring space is so important, really for the benefit of all of humanity.
This is just an innate characteristic in the human species to explore.
Science and technology development, to exploration of our species as humans and where we're going and where we came from.
Understanding more about our solar system, about our universe, about the formation, not only of other planetary objects, like the moon and Mars, but of our own.
And you also see the benefits back on earth from science development, and also just inspiring the next generation.
We end up changing our lives forever.
And I think for the most part, for the betterment of mankind.
When you look back at the planet from above, you don't see any of those man-made geopolitical boundaries that we've imposed upon ourselves.
And it's so easy to realize how we truly are all in this together.
We are all one.