Leland Melvin: An astronaut's story of curiosity, perspective and change
Leland Melvin: Bir astronotun merak, bakış açısı ve değişim hikâyesi
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
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
olduğumu hatırlıyorum.
on the set in the front,
olan biteni dinlerken
for my dad, and my sister and my mom.
ve annem için ayarlayan kişiydim.
move this way, we can't see the screen."
ekranı göremiyoruz.''
one giant leap for mankind."
insanlık için devasa bir adım''dı.
were walking on the Moon.
Ay'ın yüzeyinde yürüyorlardı.
in Lynchburg, Virginia,
Lynchburg kentinde beş yaşında,
in a kind of somewhat racist town.
cılız siyahi bir çocuktum.
what I was going to do with my life.
they were educators,
all the kids in the neighborhood
mahalledeki tüm çocuklar
an astronaut?"
demeye başladılar.
and I don't see someone who looks like me.
ayrıca bana benzeyen biri de görmüyorum.
on Pierce Street
about his character, his discipline,
one of those moon guys.
he played in a band,
ayrıca bir müzik grubundaydı,
for my sister and I
with education.
into the driveway with this bread truck.
bir ekmek kamyonetiyle geldi.
while my dad's driving the truck."
ben ekmek teslimatı yapacağım.
a bread guy now."
''Bu bizim tatil evimiz.'' diyordu.
'Merita Bread and Rolls'
''Kamyonetin üstündeki
to build this into our camper."
tatil evimiz yapacağız'' diyordu.
the entire electrical system.
sistemini baştan döşedik.
to a Coleman stove,
vacation launch pad, escape pod,
hâline getiriyorduk, bir kaçış yuvası,
take us out of Lynchburg.
by some neighbors.
tecavüze uğradım.
that didn't have fathers.
that did that to his son.
and escaped from Lynchburg,
yerleşip Lynchburg'den kaçtık,
mountains' majesty.
in Myrtle Beach,
to be an explorer, at a very early age.
ne demek olduğunu bana gösterdi.
an age-inappropriate,
yaşıma uygun olmayan
explosion in her living room.
en inanılmaz patlamayı gerçekleştirdim.
through a high school,
to play football in college.
oynamak için bir burs aldım.
because I'd already blown stuff up.
çünkü bir şeyleri patlatmıştım bile.
they go work for NASA, right?
NASA'ya gitmeye karar verdim.
"Leland, you'd be great astronaut."
''Leland, harika bir astronot olursun.''
I was like, "Yeah, me, an astronaut?"
''Ben? Astronot? Tabii tabii.''
thing from back in '69?
Neil ve Buzz olayı vardı ya?
and I looked at it,
şöyle bir baktım
filled out the application
o formu doldurdu
like that be astronauts,"
astronot olarak alıyor,"
the application, and I got in.
formu doldurdum ve kabul edildim.
what it meant to be an astronaut:
olduğunu bilmiyordum:
for this countdown:
"Atlantis," careening off the planet,
''Atlantis'' uzay aracındaydım,
and we're now floating in space.
ve artık uzayda hareket ediyorduk.
and float over to the window,
to describe the colors that I see.
maviye yeni anlamlar yüklemem lazım.
medium navy blue, turquoise
açık lacivert, turkuaz
to what I see with my eyes.
Columbus laboratory.
Columbus laboratuvarını kurmaktı.
for human research.
ve insan araştırması için.
of the space shuttle,
and I attached it to the space station.
onu uzay istasyonuna monte ettim.
10 years for this thing to get installed,
bunun kurulmasını bekliyorlardı,
"Leland! Leland! Leland!"
''Leland! Leland!'' diye bağırmıştır.
this was our primary mission objective,
bu bizim öncelikli amacımızdı
the first female commander,
kumandanımız Peggy Whitson,
to the Russian segment.
about the size of a football field,
and all of these modules.
güneş panelleri ve kirişler var.
the rehydrated vegetables,
sen hidratize edilmiş sebzeleri al.
of vegetables, all rehydrated,
hidratize sebzelerle dolu paketi aldık
back to my mother's kitchen.
and barley heating up,
kokusunu alabiliyorduk,
from all around the world.
Asian American, French, German, Russian,
Fransız, Alman, Rus
ekmek bölüşüyorlar,
doğuşu ve batışını izleyerek.
"Hey, Leland, try some of this,"
''Hey Leland, şunu da bir dene.''
and we'd go back and forth.
listening to Sade's "Smooth Operator."
''Smooth Operator'' parçasını dinlerdik.
blowing my mind, you know.
and I look down at the planet,
gezegene bir göz atıyorum
Virginia, my home town,
üzerinden, evimden geçiyoruz
we're flying over Paris,
is looking down at his parents,
borscht or something else.
borscht falan yiyorlar.
where we see our respective families
tek bir medeniyet çatısı altında
that little skinny boy,
Lyncburg kentinden
zamanı düşünüyorum,
of being an astronaut,
olarak göremezdim,
inşa ettiğimiz o araçta
with our own two hands.
bunlar olamazdı.
do we open up our blinders
ne kadar araladığımız
and Russians fighting Americans.
Almanlar ve Rusları düşünüyorum.
living and working together.
çalışıyor ve yaşıyorlar.
French folks, you know.
in harmony as one race.
harmoni içinde birlikteler.
the design of the modules,
modüllerin tasarımını,
a community, our home.
bir aile yaptığını.
and looking there,
that I'm living and working with,
tüm bu insanları görüyorum,
can do now, especially in these times,
yapabileceği bir şey;
the right perspective.
sahip olduğumuzdan emin olmak.
could I just chat with you for a minute,
bir dakika sohbet edebilir miyiz?
some things here.
we watch a lot of space movies
to ask you, though,
this movie the other day,
one of your colleagues,
iş arkadaşlarından biri
NASA wrote an obituary for him.
NASA onun için bir ölüm ilanı yazdı.
that you're putting yourself in
kendinizi içine attığınız bu tehlikeyi
writing my obituary,
yazdığını hatırlamıyorum,
shuttle flights that we've had,
gerçekleştirdiğimiz 135 uçuşta,
that killed everyone on that mission.
sonuçlanan iki kaza geçirdik.
and the risks that go along with this,
getirdiği risk ve tehlikeleri biliyoruz
that's much bigger than ourselves,
çok daha büyük bir şey yapıyoruz
when we get into that vehicle
bunu hissediyoruz,
of rocket fuel and go up to space.
kendimizi oraya bağlamak.
the Hollywood version --
versiyonunu gördüm --
I have to tell you.
told me that a few times.
bunu birkaç kez söyledi.
that was very powerful and difficult,
noktaya da değindin,
when you were five years old,
for you to be able to say those things,
is important for you to share that now,
bunun hakkında konuşmanın
to talk about things that have happened,
daha önce olan şeyler hakkında konuşmak
that we have to be so tough and so hard
that are happening to us.
hakkında konuşamayacağımız.
contact me and tell me that,
benimle iletişime geçti ki
that are going on in them,
this is part of storytelling,
hikâye anlatımının parçası bu,
whole as a community.
bir topluluk olarak birleştirmek için.
you spoke about perspective shift,
bakış açısı değişiminden bahsettin
we've been very slow to accept
çok yavaş olduğumuzu,
so we thank you for that.
bu yüzden sana teşekkür ederim.
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