Anousheh, Homer, Welcome to the Lake.

Sean, Welcome back, thank you for Hosting today’s Book Salon.

Thanks, I’m excited to be part of this event.

Anousheh, I’m sure we’ll get into the fascinating story of your journey from Iran to the U.S. to Earth orbit, but let’s begin with the most obvious question of all: How did if feel to look down at the Earth from outer space? Was it mostly excitement, exhilaration, disbelief?

Thanks, Sean. It’s great to join you today.

Hi Sean Hi Bev – Glad to be here

Hello Anousheh. It’s good to be on line with you, too. It was a great honor to help you with your memoir.

Good afternoon Anousheh, Homer, and Sean and welcome all to FDL this afternoon

Anousheh, I have not had an opportunity to read your book so forgive me if this is answered there, but how did you manage to make the journey from Iran to being an US astronaut? That seems to be one of the more convoluted journeys someone can take (in a bit of an understatement)

All of the above :) it was the most memorable part of the journey. When i saw earth for the first time, it was magical. For the first time I realized that I’m actually in space and this is not just a dream.

The earth itself was magnificent and it felt alive !

Thank you Homer – I really enjoyed working with you and learned a lot :)

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Homer, what was it like to work with Anousheh on her story, especially in light of your own fascination with space travel?

Well – it is a long story that i covered in a book called “My dream of Stars” ;)

it all started from a childhood dream that did not go away. I came here in pursuit of a new life and new opportunities and that is exactly what I found.
of course it was not handed to me on a silver platter and I had to fight for it. I firs made it as a successful entrepreneur and then used this success to go after my childhood dream – I do hope you woudl read the book and enjoy it :)

Sean, well, working with Anousheh was pretty easy except we were both so busy. I had two other books to work on but I thought helping Anousheh was a higher calling. We both did everything we could to bring the reality of her experience into the pages of her memoir. Her story begins, “Call this a love story.” I saw it that way from the beginning, Anousheh’s love of her family, her Iran, her United States, her husband, her business, and finally, of the stars themselves. It is a fascinating and surprising story, much different than most people may think. They have to read the book!

While we’re at it, Anousheh, what was it like working with Homer? You’ve already said that you’ve learned a lot — do you have a favorite example?

Welcome to Firedoglake – this is an amazing story.

What are some of the physical affects of space travel? I’ve read that it can trigger motion sickness for folks who have never experienced that (and since I’m one of those who has suffered from motion sickness all my life – just another reason I probably would not do well in space)

Be careful, Anousheh!!! ;-)

No, don’t be careful!

OK. I’ll take my lumps!

I can help out on the space sickness question a little bit since I spent hours upon top of hours in the zero-g airplane when I worked for NASA and am also a scuba instructor! Nearly everyone gets ill in space but it usually passes in a day or two. It is mostly caused by the fluid shift into the upper body, including the cranium and ears. I think it would be worth it to fly into space to get a little ill. By the way, I NEVER got sick on either the “vomit comet” or out on the roughest ocean. Call it my gift.

Homer, you’ve worked as an engineer and as an army lieutenant, but it’s clear that writing is your calling. (I only wish my amazon.com reviews were that good.) Is your technical background very helpful in the fiction and non-fiction you write?

Well, I always like to point out John Steinbeck was a marine biologist and Michael Crichton (Jurassic Park) a physician so I guess an engineer can be a writer, too. I think my engineering and military training made me a sequential thinker and also very disciplined, enough so that I can plunk my bottom into a chair in front of a computer for hours and write. Of course, you’re right. Writing is my passion. That is, next to Anousheh, but don’t tell her that. She’ll think I’m going soft and my wife might hit me, too.

Thanks. As someone who has gotten violently ill over the years, I don’t wish anyone to have to experience the motion sickness world.

I had never written a book before and as an engineer I was basically just covering the facts. Homer was very patient with me and by asking me a lot of questions basically dragged my story out of me.

I learned the art of story telling from him :)

Anousheh, you grew up in Iran, became a successful entrepreneur in the U.S., and learned to be a cosmonaut in Russia. How would you compare the way things are done in the three very different countries?

The astronauts train and train but there’s little to be done for motion sickness in space except for some drugs that control it somewhat. Anousheh tells in My Dream of Stars about her space sickness problem the first couple of days and how she fought to overcome it and did. That’s the way she’s lived her life, fighting through problems and succeeding. Hers is a most inspirational story. It’s why I was attracted to it.

Space has many effects on the body depending on the amount of time you spend in space. Initial effects that almost everyone feels is motion sickness, headache from the increase fluid shift in the body to the head area and lower back pain. The lower back pain is due to stretching of the spine.

longer term exposure could cause Muscle atrophy and bone density loss.

I think I am going to have to track down this book and read it.

I found a lot more commonality between Iran and Russia than Iran and US. each Culture of course are unique in their own ways. I were to use Star trek characters in describing each, I would say US is Spock, Iran is Captain Kirk and Russia is Scotty ;-)

Anousheh’s book should be easy to track down, dakine01, You can see how to order it on either http://www.anoushehansari,com or http://www.homerhickam.com.

Anousheh, what do you think is the future of the X Prize, and privately-run spaceflight in general?

That might be the first time I’ve ever heard anyone compare the U.S. to Spock. Always interesting to get another perspective!

Thanks!

(I need to find something resembling full time employment in order to get the extra cash but hopefully the local library has it)

Now, see, I would say the US is Kirk, Iran is Sulu, and Russia is Klingon! But that’s just me, old cold warrior that I am.

If you can’t find employment, start your own business. That’s what Anousheh did, as you will read in her memoir. And it better be in your library. Let me know if it isn’t!

Well from the perspective of someone who came from a country where everything is flexible even the laws that rule the country, US seems like Spock.

Homer, you once told John F. Kennedy that we should go to the moon. What would you tell the current Administration that we should be doing in space?

There’s a lot of Spock in Anousheh although she thinks she’s Captain Kirk! ;-)

i am very excited about the future of X Prize and everything that we are doing to apply our success from Ansari X Prize and use competition to solve some of the most pressing issues in the world.

We have expanded into Energy and Environment, Genomics, Social issues, and ofcourse Space :)

ohmystars, i’m loving this book!

Sean, I think our next steps should proceed along these lines:

1. Keep the Shuttle flying until we get a replacement.
2. Base that replacement on the X-37b and use upgrades of the Atlas V and Delta IV to launch it into orbit.
3. Perfect scramjets into low earth orbit.
4. Go back to the moon and build a scientific outpost there similar to the South Pole Station. Start developing the mineral and energy resources of the moom
5. Keep exploring Mars with robots. Keep those space telescopes humming, too.

We can do all of that with a relatively small investment. Most of all, it takes organization and passion to get there from here.

I’m so glad – have you finished it?

I was struck by the line “I had studied physics, chemistry, and calculus in the eighth, ninth, and tenth grades, whereas the American students were just getting to these subjects as electives in high school.” Do you think we should be pushing students harder in American schools?

Oh, one more thing. I would make Anousheh the NASA Administrator.

not yet — am where you went for the palm leaf reading for Hamid’s birthday. wow…. its a book that i sorta don’t want to end…very easy to read and your story is so interesting.

Can’t really disagree with any of that. As a scientist, I’m very impressed with how NASA does astrophysics, but less so with their management of the manned space program. My guess is that much of that will eventually be private, but I’m certainly not an expert.

Ha Ha – Can the NASA Administrator decide to send herself up on the next mission? if so I’m game.

Agreed. NASA management is its Achilles heel. Whether that can be corrected or not depends on political will and bringing in tough managers to run the agency the way it was run during the Apollo era. Otherwise, it’s a lost cause.

No, first she has to send her faithful co-author up there!

Absolutely – I think all the students should get exposure to all these and many other subjects in high school and even earlier. We can have a whole Lake session on Education… I am so disappointed on how we are failing to get more student interested in STEM. With the available technology we can make learning STEM topics fun and interactive so students, specially girls don’t get intimidated and run away from it.

I WANT MORE WOMEN ENGINEERS!

you got it – we can go on a join mission

Thank you, Suzaanne. I really wanted that leaf reading segment in the book. It was fascinating!

Well, we can always talk to our buddy Elon Musk and fly together on a Dragon. You buy the tickets and I’ll keep you laughing all the way.

I remember being struck by the fact that many countries have a much higher percentage of women scientists and engineers than the U.S., even countries where we might otherwise think aren’t as advanced when it comes to women’s rights. Do you think there’s something in particular that we should be doing, or that we’re currently doing wrong?

Certainly stories like this one will help!

I also think the public has to be educated about the space program and why it is important. You are right- it is political- so we need to get more people interested NASA so our politicians would be compelled to spend more money and pay more attention to it.

How many people are supposed to go in the Dragon, anyway? Every good mission needs at least one theoretical physicist.

But but but Larry Summers says women don’t have the right stuff to be mathematicians/engineers/scientists!?! (just kidding obviously)

I think we need better role models that would take the place of Paris Hilton.

I also think that the value system that kids experience these days is somewhat out of balance

I think three to as many as six crew on the Dragon, depending on the version, Sean. Let’s go!

A question for the guests about NASA in the more immediate future… some background and exposition here for those that aren’t space geeks, with the caveat that these are, of course, based on my opinions for whatever they may be worth :)

The current situation with NASA is rather… er… convoluted…

There was the project of record Ares with Ares I and Ares V… which due to bad design decisions and bad program decisions compounded by chronic underfunding had blossomed into projects that were falling further and further behind and were vastly overbudget.

You have Obama’s proposal which is supposed to have NASA switchin to tech development while relying entirely on commercial launchers to take up the slack… and its critics who don’t like the lack of an active spaceflight program with defined goals at NASA… added to those are the folks who believe Obama will keep up the promised commercial funding only until the first flying capsule design… and even perhaps eventually lead to the gutting of the agency itself once its congressional support lines are cut.

You have the Senate proposal, which cuts back on the commercial launcher reliance, and cuts back on the funding thereof, to have NASA developing an inline HLV (Heavy Launch Vehicle) which bears similarities to Direct’s Jupiter proposal and can pinch hit for crew transport if commercial crew is not ready on time… and its critics who believe that the people who’re tasked with this at Marshall Space Flight Center couldn’t finish a design if their life depended on it….

And you have the House proposal which could be read to reflect the Senate viewpoint but actually seems to be more influenced by people who haven’t gotten the memo about the Ares catastrophe… Its critics would like to know what the House actually wants :)

… and now dear guests… any opinions on the immediate choices?

Anousheh, you made a special effort to communicate with people down on Earth while you were in space, through blog posts and radio broadcasts. Could you talk about that experience, and the feedback you received?

your book is very inspirational — was that your intention — to inspire women to follow their dreams?

Who is Larry Summers?

i think total of 9 including the crew – if any

Anousheh, what was it like growing up in Iran under the Shah? Was the transition to living in the US hard, after the political revolution?

Homer, have you written any “hard” sci-fi?

I ask because of the inherent optimism of the sci-fi writers such as Asimov that no matter what problems we have on Earth, eventually we manage to reach the stars and other worlds and it seems your background would lend itself to this.

Maybe a story based on Anousheh’s however many great grandchildren or something. :})

Convoluted is right. It’s a mess and the Senate/House versions of the 2011 budget just made it messier. Bottom line is the people laying out the American space program are, well, less than sequential thinkers. They’re all over the map. But I’m sure we’ll get it right. As Winston Churchill said, Americans always do the right thing after they’ve tried everything else.

That is what i hoped for. Writing this book was a difficult decision. I am a private person and having everyone know some of the most intimate details of my life was not something i was looking forward to. But when I thought my story could inspire just one young girl in Iran or Afghanistan or any other place in the world and give her hope of a brighter future, i decided that it was worth it.

obviously not a very bright person

Larry Summers is the current Director of WH National Economic Council and former president of Harvard (who got in a lot of trouble after making that statement about why women are not being well represented in science and mathematics while Harvard President.)

My only foray into what might be considered hard scifi was 1999′s Back to the Moon. I think you’d like it, although it’s a little dated. After my next novel (titled The Dinosaur Hunter), I’m writing the story of a young man and his sister who are living on the moon around 2070. The world is much, much different from the one we know today, about as different as the Renaissance era is to the Victorian era.

Ah, a Harvard man. Well, that explains everything!

Boston Globe:
A suggestion by Harvard University’s president, Lawrence H. Summers, that women may not have the same innate abilities in math and science as men has touched off an angry response from many Harvard professors, including members of a committee on women’s issues who sent Summers a letter yesterday complaining that his remarks “impede our current efforts to recruit top women scholars.”

In response, Summers wrote that he did not believe “that women lack the ability to succeed at the highest levels of math and science.”

yes it was an important part of my journey because i knew there were so many people just dreaming about what i was experiencing and i wanted to give them a glimpse of what it would be like.

I imagined how excited and inspired I would have been if I was in contact with someone in space and I wanted to give everyone that experience.

My Blog was accessed by over 25 million visitors and i received so many wonderful positive feedback from people all over the world.

Of course the most heart warming comments came from the young women of Iran.

Zing! Good one!

Homer, what was it like having Rocket Boys turn into the film October Sky? Obviously there is a very long journey from book to movie, and often little remains of the starting point.

Well, that’s just silly. Summers should have written, “I dropped history class right before my professor covered Madame Curie so please excuse my ignorance.” It reminds me of my dad’s advice to me: It is better to confess ignorance than provide it!

thank you for doing so… i’m going to send your book to my 21 year old daughter when i’m finished reading it. it has inspired me to be more true to my dreams.

It was a great experience, Sean, and the movie is still very popular around the world. I keep reminding Hollywood producers of that, suggesting they option one of my other books! The only drawback I can think of is that when I make a speech and see teenage girls in my audience, I have to apologize for not actually being Jake Gyllenhaal!

Well at the time I didn’t think that my life was that different from other girls in other countries with one exception and that was we didn’t have an Iranian NASA equivalent but i figured by the time i grow up it would be there or that we would all transition to a world where we would be all part of the United Federation of Planets and not considered separate countries.

Coming to US as a teenager was a difficult transition for me. I felt alienated at first because I didn’t speak the language, but slowly i learned the ways and actually started enjoying adn taking advantage of my new found freedoms.

For both of you, it seems like your family and upbringings were very influential. Anousheh, how did your family feel about your dream of going into space?

At first they didn’t mind me primarily because they never thought i would actually go for it or get a change to do it. However they never discouraged me so i kept on going.

Once I was ready to board my Rocket, they were all there and very supportive, even though i know they were all very scared for my life. My poor mom had to be tranquilizer medicine just so she could come to the launch

That may be lots of moms; thanks for your story.

My mom just said, “Well, don’t blow yourself up” when I told her I was going to build a rocket. I suspect that’s what she would have said if I’d crawled aboard a rocket with a dented nose cone and missing a fin. That’s sort of the coal miner’s perspective on danger, I guess.

I really enjoyed the detailed description in the book of the training astronauts go through. And I know that Homer, you’ve trained American astronaut crews for NASA. Is there anything that the average non-spacefaring person would be surprised to learn about the training, or about the experience of being in space?

From a former NASA training manager’s perspective, I can tell you the astronauts were extremely motivated to do well and were willing to dig in and learn whatever we threw at them. They were quite competitive but that wasn’t always necessarily helpful as sometimes they got mad at each other, not to mention their training manager, when everything didn’t go as well as they hoped. Someday, I may write a memoir about my experiences as an astronaut training manager but I’m going to have to wait until I outlive certain folks or double up on my life insurance!

How were the accommodations on the Rocket? (My frame of reference is the Gemini series rockets, 10 yrs).

And, by the way, Sean, I think Anousheh in My Dream of Stars is very brave to reveal the details of her training. She doesn’t hold back on telling us exactly how she feels, good and bad.

well the little things were fascinating to me, like the fact that i could not leave anything on a table or any surface because they could float away or that if i didn’t close my pockets that my stuff would fly out on my pockets and get lost. I was surprised to notice how much force we normally exert. I noticed it because when i wanted to move somewhere or move an object i would apply so much force that it would spin it out of control. I also noticed it because i was exerting so much force to keep myself in one place that bruised my feet but then i realized that i can do the same thing effortlessly.

You flew on the Gemini, Bev?

it was tiny – we barely had room for the three of us. You have to really like your crewmates if you are flying together on the Soyuz. I don’t know exactly how it compares to Gemini but it is certainly smaller than the Appolo capsule

I think both the Gemini and Soyuz, having examined both, are similar in volume to a Volkswagen beetle – without the back seat! Gemini had a 2-person crew, Soyuz has 3 but the arrangement and cockpit layout was different.

It was great to include some of those comments in the book, too.

Homer, I know you’ve written fiction, non-fiction, and your own memoirs. Was this the first time you collaborated with someone else on a memoir? What was that like? And Anousheh, I presume it took a lot of trust to work with someone else on telling your own story.

Hardly, just worked on the hardware.

Being a fan of Rocket Boys, I knew homer would understand that deep desire that had compelled me to do what I did and that I could trust him to be true to my story. I think it was a much easier experience for me than it was for him. I think I drove him nuts at times ;-)

It was my first collaborative effort. I wasn’t exactly certain how we were going to do it but once Anousheh started telling me her story, it just started to work. Most of all, I knew that I didn’t want the standard astronaut book. I wanted to help Anousheh unravel her emotions and tell her readers how she felt during the upheavals of her life. I mean, here is a woman who lived through the Iranian revolution, came to the USA without speaking a word of English, built an amazing company, funded the X-prize, AND went into space. There was a lot of story there but I wanted her readers to FEEL it. I also wanted them to know what kind of clothes she wore (as an example) because people are mostly interested in other people. I think we got there.

True. You still do but that’s for another book. I’M JUST KIDDING!

Well, thank you. Gemini was a great program.

I think we’re winding down, so let me ask one final big-picture question. (Not to stop anyone else if they still have questions.)

What do you both see as the future of humans in space? Short-term, medium-term, very long term? What should it be, and what is it likely to be?

And thanks very much for participating! This kind of discussion really brings a book to life.

As we come to the end of this Book Salon,

Anousheh, Homer, Thank you for stopping by the Lake and spending the afternoon with us discussing your new book, your life, and the space program.

Sean, Thank you very much for Hosting this great Book Salon.

Everyone, if you would like more information:
Anousheh’s website
Homer’s website
Sean’s website

Thanks all.

I see tourists in low earth orbit very soon, and small hotels for them to spend some time. I anticipate a demand for artificial gravity, meaning wheeled hotels as Dr. von Braun designed them so long ago. I see rough little outposts on the moon and, ultimately, the creation of an Earth-moon civilization. I don’t see humans going to Mars any time soon. Our technology would have to make a big leap to get us there, mainly in the arenas of propulsion and radiation shielding. But that’s fine. Robots are doing a great job on Mars.

You’re welcome, I had fun!

Short term i thin kit is till a bit of struggle. I have my eye on Private space activities and for the like of Elon and other entrepreneurs to take giant leaps despite the risk. This is what will move the needle on our endeavor to really become a space faring species. Medium term I think we will have a permanent presence in space, most likely the moon and then we would move beyond our solar system. I think in the process we will find a better way to travel in space and cost effective and efficient ways of harnessing the energy of the sun from space and taking advantage of the resources available beyond our planet in order to survive on earth,

I also hope and think space will be more inclusive and all the young girls who would ream of stars would actually be able to touch them :)

Thank you all – It was fun

Lisa Derrick is upstairs!
“Where Are Your Papers!?” Latino Activists Stage “Raid” at Netroots

So very sorry to have missed this Book Salon, but duty called — was liveblogging the panel at Netroots Nation on Closing of Gitmo at the same time the Book Salon was underway.

Want to thank Anouseh for her book, which I am going to read to my kids. It’s a reminder that the only thing holding us back is our own attitude; for my daughter, it’s a reminder that women can achieve their dreams.

Want to thank Homer for encouraging Anouseh to write and for being here today; it’s so important, especially to women, to have strong advocates and mentors.

And finally want to thank Sean for hosting another science-related discussion.

Anouseh is right, we need more female engineers. But we need more women in the sciences, period; I can see the deficiency in software development, which affects nearly all of us every day. We will have to continue the conversation about improving American education and encouraging girls to reach for their dreams and the stars.

Josh Mull is upstairs!
General Kayani’s “Silent Coup” in Pakistan: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly