Latest news with #EmbracingInfinitePossibilities
Yahoo
02-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
I was the first Black man to walk in space. My career as an astronaut was hard for my family.
Dr. Bernard Harris is a medical doctor, astronaut, and venture capitalist. In 1995, he became the first African American to do a space walk. He attributes his success to education, and his foundation supports STEM for kids. This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Dr. Bernard Harris, author of "Embracing Infinite Possibilities: Letting Go Of Fear To Reach Your Highest Potential". It has been edited for length and clarity. I was one of the original Star Trek enthusiasts. I was about 10 when the show debuted, and I would rush home each week to watch a new episode. My imagination ran wild with the idea of space and being in space. Then, when I was 13, NASA landed on the moon. When Neil Armstrong said those famous words — "one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" — it really set my passion off. I studied medicine, always with the goal of becoming an astronaut. In 1990, when I was about 34, I was selected for the astronaut program. Over the next four years, I flew twice into space and became the first Black man to do a space walk. Many people don't realize that the space shuttle weighs 5 million pounds. To haul that into space, we light five engines that produce 7.5 million pounds of thrust. Once those are ignited, you're leaving the planet in a hurry. The first time I went to space, my daughter was about 8 months old. Her mom — my life partner — had the hardest job, raising our daughter and my three stepchildren. My work took away from family time. When it was time to launch, my family watched nervously, hoping everything went right. Inside the shuttle, I was laser-focused on making sure everything went right, so I didn't have time to worry. Later, when the hatch opened for my space walk, I felt like I was falling, just for a second. My brain expected to feel gravity's pull, but after a moment, I adjusted to the floating sensation. I was tethered to a robotic arm 35 feet above the space shuttle. Below, I could see the shuttle and the Earth beyond that. Surrounding it all was the clearest view of the Milky Way galaxy that you could ever imagine. It was an incredible view for a human. I was struck by the silence. With no air to transmit sound, space is completely quiet. Floating there, I had a great sense of peace. It was even more wonderful than I expected. The year after that walk, I left NASA, but continued to work around the space industry. I also practiced medicine and saw patients at community clinics. That's been an important way for me to give back. I've had experiences that very few people get, particularly people of color. Part of my legacy is to translate that experience and use it to create awareness here on Earth. That means sharing my story and also helping create opportunities for other people to follow in my footsteps. I founded The Harris Foundation to focus on that legacy. Our work is structured around three pillars of success: education, health, and wealth. Health is important to me, as a physician, and I want everyone to have access to quality healthcare. In order to participate equally in the American dream, we need to build wealth, not only individually but generationally. My family was poor when I was a child, but today I have built a great deal of wealth. I hope to help others do the same. Doing so starts with education. My father only had an 11th-grade education, but my mother's college degree gave her power. It changed not only her life, but mine. I may not have been so successful if she hadn't had her education. I've seen how education can change the trajectory of a person and their descendants. Read the original article on Business Insider
Yahoo
31-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Black Astronaut Made Space History in 1995. Now He's Getting Inducted into Hall of Fame (Exclusive)
Dr. Bernard Harris Jr. is being inducted into NASA's Astronaut Hall of Fame on Friday, May 31 He made history in 1995, becoming the first Black astronaut to perform a spacewalk "To be part of the foundation for what we're doing in space now is really fulfilling," he tells PEOPLEDr. Bernard Harris Jr. grew up in Texas as NASA was developing and always had an interest in science – but once he watched man land on the moon, even at 13, he began to have astronaut dreams. 'I knew what I wanted to do,' he tells PEOPLE. 'I wanted to follow the footsteps of these great men, human beings, that had done something for the very first time in human history.' That's exactly what he did. Now Harris — who became the first Black person to perform a spacewalk and recently released his second book, Embracing Infinite Possibilities — will be inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame on Saturday, May 31. Before going to college at the University of Houston, Harris, now 68, tells PEOPLE he realized he wanted to become a doctor so he could practice medicine on Earth – and in space. Following his residency in internal medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, Harris pursued a fellowship in endocrinology because he was 'advised to find the most critical aspect of humans in space that needed to be solved' — and one of those is bone loss. (Astronauts lose 1% of bone per month in space, he says.) By 1990, Harris applied and spent a year of astronaut basic training. About three weeks later, he was assigned to his first mission: the STS-55 on Space Shuttle Columbia in 1993. During that trip, Harris says he did the first medical examination in space and even the first intravenous line. 'It was only natural for me to say, 'Okay, if we're going to be in space for long periods of time, how do we ensure that humans can survive up there?' " he recalls. For his second mission, STS-63 on Space Shuttle Discovery in 1995, Harris completed his historic spacewalk. That mission was also notable because Eileen Collins made history as the first female space commander. 'To be part of the foundation for what we're doing in space now is really fulfilling,' he says, adding that he loves to see younger astronauts taking over – and having longer stays in space. Speaking of those longer stays, although the International Space Station wasn't built during his career as an astronaut, some of the devices that crews use today were originally developed in his laboratory. After his two space missions — which included logging 438 hours and traveling over 7.2 million miles — he ventured into philanthropy with the launch of his nonprofit, which supports youth programs in math and science education and crime prevention. Then it was time to go after his dream of becoming an entrepreneur – and his work has always been a bit ahead of the curve. As CEO and managing partner of Vesalius Ventures, Harris focused on telemedicine before many even knew how that would work and was previously hired by Spacehab (now the Astrotech Corporation), one of the first commercial private space companies. 'That was way ahead of SpaceX and Blue Origin, and what we're doing now," he adds. As for the future of space tourism and where he believes the space program is headed, Harris says he continues to be excited that there are more avenues to get to space. 'There'll be tremendous opportunities on the moon. And I think that when we then take that bigger leap to go to Mars,' he believes. He ultimately sees the continued progress as a way to unify. 'When I was out on my spacewalk," he says, 'looking back at the earth, [I realized] how important this spaceship that we live on planet Earth is to us all. From that distance, you can't see the divisions that divide us here on earth. And my hope is that space will be an opportunity for us to come together as a people." Embracing Infinite Possibilities is out now. You can purchase it here. Read the original article on People
