Leland Melvin: An astronaut's story of curiosity, perspective and change
里兰·马尔文: 一位太空人的故事:好奇心、观点与改变
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.
on the set in the front,
for my dad, and my sister and my mom.
我们看不到画面了。”
move this way, we can't see the screen."
one giant leap for mankind."
巴兹·奥尔德林正在月球上行走。
were walking on the Moon.
住在弗吉尼亚州的林奇堡,
in Lynchburg, Virginia,
in a kind of somewhat racist town.
what I was going to do with my life.
我长大了应该做什么。
they were educators,
all the kids in the neighborhood
邻里的所有小孩
an astronaut?"
and I don't see someone who looks like me.
和我同样肤色的人,
on Pierce Street
about his character, his discipline,
one of those moon guys.
he played in a band,
for my sister and I
赚钱让家里孩子可以
with education.
into the driveway with this bread truck.
送面包的车开上我们的车道。
while my dad's driving the truck."
a bread guy now."
一个送面包的小伙子了。”
'Merita Bread and Rolls'
我可是识字的,车上明明写着
to build this into our camper."
改造成我们的露营车。”
the entire electrical system.
整个电气系统都重新做了布线。
to a Coleman stove,
改装成了一个赫尔曼炉,
vacation launch pad, escape pod,
发射台,逃生舱,
take us out of Lynchburg.
by some neighbors.
that didn't have fathers.
that did that to his son.
对他儿子做这种事的人。
and escaped from Lynchburg,
这台面包车,逃离林奇堡,
mountains' majesty.
in Myrtle Beach,
to be an explorer, at a very early age.
就见识到作为探险家的意义。
如何成为一个探险家。
an age-inappropriate,
一个不符合我年龄,并且没经过
认证的化学实验工具箱。
创造了最惊人的爆炸。
explosion in her living room.
through a high school,
to play football in college.
because I'd already blown stuff up.
因为我已经造成过爆炸了。
都会去NASA(美国太空总署)工作对吧?
they go work for NASA, right?
你可以成为一个出色的太空人。”
"Leland, you'd be great astronaut."
“你确定?我?太空人?”
I was like, "Yeah, me, an astronaut?"
巴兹(登月)的事吗?
thing from back in '69?
and I looked at it,
filled out the application
填写了那份申请表格,
like that be astronauts,"
那种蠢货做太空人的话,”
the application, and I got in.
我填了申请表,然后入选了。
what it meant to be an astronaut:
for this countdown:
倒数升空时做好充分的准备:
"Atlantis," careening off the planet,
航天飞机上,以极高的速度离开地球,
and we're now floating in space.
and float over to the window,
to describe the colors that I see.
方能形容我眼前的颜色。
medium navy blue, turquoise
中深蓝色、蓝绿色
to what I see with my eyes.
Columbus laboratory.
for human research.
of the space shuttle,
and I attached it to the space station.
将它安装到太空站上。
10 years for this thing to get installed,
"Leland! Leland! Leland!"
都在欢呼:“里兰!里兰!里兰!”
this was our primary mission objective,
这就是我们的主要任务目的,
the first female commander,
女性指挥官,佩吉·惠特森,
to the Russian segment.
about the size of a football field,
一个足球场那么大,
and all of these modules.
桁架和各种各样的模组。
the rehydrated vegetables,
of vegetables, all rehydrated,
再水化蔬菜,一路飘着
back to my mother's kitchen.
and barley heating up,
from all around the world.
Asian American, French, German, Russian,
法国人、德国人、俄国人,
舱里和我们共餐,
看到一次日出和日落。
"Hey, Leland, try some of this,"
“嘿,里兰,试试这个。”
给我抛来了食物,
and we'd go back and forth.
接住,然后彼此“礼尚往来”。
listening to Sade's "Smooth Operator."
背景放着莎黛的《调情圣手》。
blowing my mind, you know.
and I look down at the planet,
Virginia, my home town,
弗吉尼亚州的林奇堡,
we're flying over Paris,
is looking down at his parents,
往下看着自己的父母,
borscht or something else.
“罗宋汤”或者其他东西。
从远处观看各自家人的时刻,
where we see our respective families
that little skinny boy,
弗吉尼亚州的林奇堡小镇,
of being an astronaut,
带我们踏上探险的旅程,
with our own two hands.
彻底翻新的露营车。
do we open up our blinders
and Russians fighting Americans.
living and working together.
一起生活和工作着。
French folks, you know.
in harmony as one race.
情同手足地和谐共处。
the design of the modules,
以及不同模组的设计,
一个属于我们的家园。
a community, our home.
and looking there,
而我看着那里,
that I'm living and working with,
can do now, especially in these times,
做到的,尤其在这个时代,
the right perspective.
正确的态度来看待彼此。
could I just chat with you for a minute,
我能不能和你聊一下,
some things here.
we watch a lot of space movies
to ask you, though,
this movie the other day,
one of your colleagues,
NASA wrote an obituary for him.
that you're putting yourself in
writing my obituary,
shuttle flights that we've had,
进行过的135趟太空飞行中,
that killed everyone on that mission.
执行该任务的所有人的不幸殉职。
and the risks that go along with this,
that's much bigger than ourselves,
其意义远远超过我们本身,
when we get into that vehicle
系上安全带,与几百万吨的火箭燃料
of rocket fuel and go up to space.
我们都抱持着这样的想法。
the Hollywood version --
I have to tell you.
told me that a few times.
that was very powerful and difficult,
而且难以启齿的话题,
when you were five years old,
把这些事情说出来,
for you to be able to say those things,
is important for you to share that now,
to talk about things that have happened,
要勇于谈论以前发生过的事,
that we have to be so tough and so hard
that are happening to us.
发生在自己身上的事情。
contact me and tell me that,
that are going on in them,
this is part of storytelling,
分享出来,这是说故事的一部分,
whole as a community.
制造一个完整的社会。
you spoke about perspective shift,
你谈到了观点上的改变,
we've been very slow to accept
很多时间才能慢慢地接受它,
so we thank you for that.
所以我们想对你表达感谢。
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