Leland Melvin: An astronaut's story of curiosity, perspective and change
ليلاند ميلفن: عنِ الفضولِ وتغيّرِ المنظور، هذه قصّةُ رائدِ الفضاءِ ليلاند
Leland Melvin is an engineer, educator, former NASA astronaut and NFL wide receiver. He shares his stories of perseverance and excellence to inspire communities for lasting positive change. Full bio
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جهازِ تلفاز (سيلفانيا) الأبيضِ والأسود
on the set in the front,
في الجهةِ الأماميّةِ من التّلفاز
for my dad, and my sister and my mom.
move this way, we can't see the screen."
تحرّك بهذا الاتجاه، لا نستطيع رؤية الشاشة"
one giant leap for mankind."
ولكنها قفزةٌ عملاقة للبشرية."
were walking on the Moon.
يمشونَ على القمر.
in Lynchburg, Virginia,
أعوام، في (لينشبيرج) في ولاية (فيرجينيا)
in a kind of somewhat racist town.
في إحدى المدن العنصريّة إلى حدٍّ ما.
what I was going to do with my life.
ما أريدُ فعلهُ في حياتي.
they were educators,
وأخبروني أنّه باستطاعتي فعلُ ما أريد.
all the kids in the neighborhood
كلّ أطفالِ الحيّ بدؤوا بالأسئلة:
an astronaut?"
وكنت أجيبهم: "كلا"
and I don't see someone who looks like me.
ولا أستطيع تخيّل شخصٍ يشبهني
on Pierce Street
about his character, his discipline,
one of those moon guys.
he played in a band,
for my sister and I
من أجل توفيرِ المال لي ولأختي
ونحصلَ على فرصةٍ للتعلّم.
with education.
into the driveway with this bread truck.
بشاحنة نقلٍ للخبز.
while my dad's driving the truck."
a bread guy now."
'Merita Bread and Rolls'
ولفائف ماريتا' على جانب الشاحنة"
to build this into our camper."
the entire electrical system.
to a Coleman stove,
vacation launch pad, escape pod,
الانطلاقِ والفرارِ لعطلة الصّيف:
take us out of Lynchburg.
by some neighbors.
عندما كنت في الخامسةِ من عمري.
that didn't have fathers.
that did that to his son.
and escaped from Lynchburg,
وهربنا من (لينشبيرج)
mountains' majesty.
in Myrtle Beach,
to be an explorer, at a very early age.
في سنٍّ مبكّرة.
مجموعة معدات كيميائية غير مناسبة لعمري
an age-inappropriate,
والسلامة المهنية،
explosion in her living room.
through a high school,
to play football in college.
كرة القدم في الجامعة،
because I'd already blown stuff up.
لأني قد بدأت مسبقاً بتفجيرِ الأشياء.
للعبِ كرة القدم
they go work for NASA, right?
في الاتحاد الأمريكي؟ يعمل مع (ناسا)
"Leland, you'd be great astronaut."
ستكون رائد فضاءٍ عظيم"
I was like, "Yeah, me, an astronaut?"
thing from back in '69?
and I looked at it,
filled out the application
آخر الاستمارة بعد ملئها
like that be astronauts,"
the application, and I got in.
وحصلتُ على القبول.
what it meant to be an astronaut:
for this countdown:
للعدّ التنازلي:
"Atlantis," careening off the planet,
الذي كان يتمايل خارج الأرض،
وطُفنا في الفضاء.
and we're now floating in space.
and float over to the window,
to describe the colors that I see.
medium navy blue, turquoise
الفيروزي:
to what I see with my eyes.
تركيب مختبرٍ
Columbus laboratory.
for human research.
of the space shuttle,
and I attached it to the space station.
10 years for this thing to get installed,
منذ 10 سنوات
"Leland! Leland! Leland!"
كانوا يشجّعونني: "ليلاند، ليلاند، ليلاند!"
this was our primary mission objective,
the first female commander,
(بيغي ويتسون)
to the Russian segment.
about the size of a football field,
and all of these modules.
وعددِ كبير من الوحدات.
the rehydrated vegetables,
ونحن سنحضر اللّحم"
of vegetables, all rehydrated,
back to my mother's kitchen.
and barley heating up,
from all around the world.
Asian American, French, German, Russian,
والفرنسيّ والألمانيّ والروسيّ
والمكوكُ يسيرُ بسرعة 17500 ميلٍ في الساعة،
"Hey, Leland, try some of this,"
and we'd go back and forth.
listening to Sade's "Smooth Operator."
للمغنّي (شادي)
blowing my mind, you know.
and I look down at the planet,
Virginia, my home town,
في (لينشبيرغ) في ولاية (فيرجينييا)
we're flying over Paris,
is looking down at his parents,
borscht or something else.
أو شيئاً آخر
where we see our respective families
that little skinny boy,
في (فيرجينيا)،
of being an astronaut,
with our own two hands.
والتي بنيناها بأيدينا.
do we open up our blinders
and Russians fighting Americans.
كانوا يحاربون الأمريكيّين،
living and working together.
French folks, you know.
أو حتى فرنسيّين
in harmony as one race.
حتّى أصبحنا أبناءَ جنسٍ واحد.
the design of the modules,
وتصميمِ الوحدات في الفضاء
a community, our home.
وكأنّنا نعيشُ في المنزل.
and looking there,
that I'm living and working with,
can do now, especially in these times,
والانسجام، وخصوصاً في هذه الأوقات
the right perspective.
إن لم تمانع؟
could I just chat with you for a minute,
some things here.
الاستماع إلينا.
we watch a lot of space movies
وهذه الأشياء.
to ask you, though,
شاهدته في فيلمٍ في أحدِ الأيام.
this movie the other day,
one of your colleagues,
NASA wrote an obituary for him.
حتى من قبل أن يموت
that you're putting yourself in
التي قد تواجهك فيه
writing my obituary,
shuttle flights that we've had,
that killed everyone on that mission.
أدّوا إلى وفاةِ جميع طاقم المهمّة.
and the risks that go along with this,
التي قد نواجهها،
that's much bigger than ourselves,
when we get into that vehicle
of rocket fuel and go up to space.
للانطلاقِ إلى الفضاء.
the Hollywood version --
(هوليوود) من رحلاتِ الفضاء
I have to tell you.
told me that a few times.
that was very powerful and difficult,
when you were five years old,
for you to be able to say those things,
عن هذه الأشياء
is important for you to share that now,
to talk about things that have happened,
أن يتحدّث الرّجال عن ما يتعرّضون له
دائماً أقوياء وقُساة
that we have to be so tough and so hard
that are happening to us.
contact me and tell me that,
that are going on in them,
this is part of storytelling,
whole as a community.
you spoke about perspective shift,
we've been very slow to accept
ولكن بشكلٍ بطيء
so we thank you for that.
لذلكَ نشكركَ على هذا
the amazing astronaut that you are,
to the TED stage, Leland.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Leland Melvin - Engineer, educatorLeland Melvin is an engineer, educator, former NASA astronaut and NFL wide receiver. He shares his stories of perseverance and excellence to inspire communities for lasting positive change.
Why you should listen
Leland Melvin served on board the Space Shuttle Atlantis as a mission specialist on mission STS-122 (2008) and STS-129 (2009), helping to construct the International Space Station. He also served as co-chair of the White House's Federal Coordination in STEM Education Task Force and as NASA Associate Administrator for Education. He can currently be seen as a judge on ABC's robot competition series "BattleBots."
"Houston, we have a problem." Melvin was 25 feet under water in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory, a six million gallon pool, training to perform spacewalks as a NASA astronaut when he called the test director and asked him to turn the volume up in his headset. He never heard a reply and was immediately hoisted out of the pool to learn that he was deaf. Emergency surgery resulting in only partial recovery to his hearing and led him to being medically disqualified to fly in space by NASA flight surgeons.
This is just one of the many career-ending challenges Melvin has overcome in his life. Before becoming an astronaut, he was drafted by the Detroit Lions to play professional football in 1986, but a hamstring injury thwarted his NFL career with Detroit and then later with the Dallas Cowboys. Through determination and perseverance, he ultimately traveled off-planet twice on Space Shuttle Atlantis to help construct the International Space Station, logging more than 565 hours in space. He's the only person drafted into the National Football League to have flown in space. The Pro Football Hall of Fame honored his athletic and academic accomplishments by placing his Detroit Lions jersey under glass in Canton, Ohio.
Melvin has a bachelor's degree in chemistry and a master's degree in materials science engineering. He worked at NASA Langley Research Center in the area of nondestructive testing creating optical fiber sensors for measuring damage in aerospace vehicles resulting in publications in numerous scientific journals. After hanging up his space boots, he was appointed head of NASA Education and served as the co-chair on the White House's Federal Coordination in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Education Task Force developing the nation's five-year STEM education plan. He was the United States representative and chair of the International Space Education Board (ISEB), a global collaboration in space. He holds five honorary doctorates for his service in education, the sciences and philanthropy.
Melvin's memoir, Chasing Space: An Astronaut's Story of Grit, Grace, and Second Chances shares his personal journey from the gridiron to the stars and examines the intersecting roles of community, perseverance and grace that align to create the opportunities for success. A young reader's version of the book is available here.
Leland Melvin | Speaker | TED.com