Apr 1, 2022
In this episode, Dan, Beth, and Lee talk to Jackie from One Giant Leap and Dr. Greg Chamitoff who served as a NASA Astronaut for 15 years.
Originally from Montreal, Canada, Dr. Greg Chamitoff served as a NASA Astronaut for 15 years, including two Shuttle Missions and a long-duration International Space Station Mission as part of Expeditions 17 and 18. He has lived and worked in Space for almost 200 days as a Flight Engineer, Science Officer, and Mission Specialist. His last mission was on the final flight of Space Shuttle Endeavour, during which he performed two spacewalks, the last of which completed the assembly of the Space Station and was the final spacewalk of the Space Shuttle program. Dr. Chamitoff serves as Professor of Practice in Aerospace Engineering and Director of the Aerospace Technology Research & Operations (ASTRO) Center at Texas A&M University.
Shownotes:
HOME | Space Teams (space-teams.com) & SpaceCRAFT VR (spacecraft-vr.com)
Current Projects | One Giant Leap Australia Foundation (onegiantleapfoundation.com.au)
Zero robotics - http://zerorobotics.mit.edu/
Kibo Robot Programming Challenge - https://jaxa.krpc.jp/ and website- https://kiboaustralia.com.au/
Space Teams
International SpaceCRAFT Exploration Challenge - https://www.space-teams.com/international-spacecraft-challenge
Here is the link to the detailed schedule - https://www.space-teams.com/_files/ugd/8029e6_00c27206df6141e2b806fc26a985d464.pdf
Mission Oz https://www.space-teams.com/international-spacecraft-challenge This is designed for Science Week.
Here is the link to the detailed schedule - https://www.space-teams.com/_files/ugd/8029e6_6cde7ba561ef4c47800f1ee512ac91d0.pdf
What’ll Happen to The Wattle: https://seedsinspace.com.au/whtw/
Who is involved? Check out the map: https://app.seedsinspace.com.au/community
Also growing the space wattle:
Seeds in Space: https://seedsinspace.com.au/
Greg and wattle seeds - https://www.flickr.com/photos/botanic-gardens-sydney/4275352493
The Gadget Girlz: https://gadgetgirlz.com.au/
The Connecting Minds Project: https://onegiantleapfoundation.com.au/the-connecting-minds-project/
Try Zero-G: *new* - https://onegiantleapfoundation.com.au/asian-try-zero-g/
One Giant Leap Radio: https://onegiantleapfoundation.com.au/podcast/
One Giant Leap YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC06FenJ1C2t0ZtKNWXTGOFw
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TRANSCRIPT For this episode of The AI in Education Podcast
Series: 5
Episode: 2
This transcript was auto-generated. If you spot any important errors, do feel free to email the podcast hosts for corrections.
Hi everybody. Welcome to the AI and Education podcast. Lee and
Beth, how are you?
I'm excellent. Beth, how are you?
Yeah, very well, thank you. I'm I'm glad we're sliding into autumn.
Actually, it's been a hot summer here in Adelaide, but uh I know
enough not to complain about the weather here. I know it's been far
worse.
Hot and wet everywhere. Yeah, it's been crazy, huh?
And the fact is the world's a bit crazy, but we could not we're not
going to talk too much about that. The world is a crazy place.
Let's stick to some uh some better stories that are going on right
now, shall we?
Absolutely. What you've been doing a lot, haven't you? I've been
following you on social media and LinkedIn recently. You've been up
to quite a bit recently.
Me? I've Well, I've had a busy couple of days. In fact, I jumped
out of this I've just jumped out of an event called the uh rules as
code conversation which a bunch of lawyers talking about how law
could be re written as code and then applied as code and have
machines operating as in in the circle of law which is both
incredibly mind-blowing but also I listened to the the the keynote
and I lost completely my mind was exploded on the just the depth of
how complex law actually is you know it's not a simple thing but
yeah that was an interesting start what about you Beth what have
you been up to
ah yeah so um we are working on our women in space program here in
South Australia which is very exciting and uh you know Liam it was
good to see you last week here in Adelaide for the space
conference. So, I'm still recovering from that. That That was my
brain explosion, actually. I found it fascinating.
Well, that's a it's a it's almost a perfect segue, isn't it? Uh,
isn't it Beth? Yes. Um, I was lucky enough last week to head down
to Adelaide to the Andy Thomas uh Space Forum event, which happens,
I think, every six months here in Australia now, which is just
constant sort of, you know, growth in the space industry. Um, but
there were some really interesting announcements, some really
interesting uh noise being made by the Australian Space Agency and
and the premier down in South Australia, which I'm sure we'll get
to talk about because today's episode is all about space. It's all
about all about space.
Lee, your circuit's dead. There's something wrong. Can you hear me?
Can you hear me?
Sorry, I had to put the Dow reference in there somewhere.
Showing your age there.
I know. Fantastic. So, Lee, we've we've been waiting and Beth,
we've been waiting for this for quite some time. This is really
really exciting episode, right? So, we're going to really focus on
space and take the next couple of episodes really unpack some of
the real stuff that's happening across the world with this. But
today we've got a real life astronaut and real life people who do
things in space is so exciting. So Lee, can I pass to you to
introduce everybody?
For sure we do. This is very exciting and I was privileged to get
connected to the people we're going to talk to today. But um
so back in I think it was in back in July last year, I got randomly
and I mean that with a great respect, randomly connected to uh to
the organization called One Giant Leap here in Australia who are
doing some amazing things in just engaging students in STEM and
education and training. Um and through that connection uh I was uh
immediately connected to a lady called Jackie Carpenter who is
joining us today. Jackie say hi.
Hi everyone. It's fun listening to uh Dan quoting off David Bowie,
you know. Awesome.
Um and Jackie is just an amazing person. We're going to hear a bit
more from Jackie later on today and the work she and her husband
are doing. But also we got connected to a real life astronaut as
you dead uh uh Dr. Greg Shamangh who is also here with us today on
the call and is a as you say a real life astronaut who has been to
the ISS and I will only tell this story quickly Greg the first time
we ended up on a team's call Greg you know we all have our pretty
backgrounds and I you know you have a background in some space
background Greg has a picture from the ISS looking out of the the
window and I said that's a great background he said oh yes I took
that picture and I knew I was innovation company so Greg welcome
and and thank you for joining us
it's great to be here with you you guys. Oh,
we're very excited to have you here and to talk about your
experiences. Um, look, I've got a thousand questions, but I've had
the opportunity to speak to both of you um, you know, a lot over
the last year as we've done the space team's event. So, Beth, I'm
going to hand over to you and I just let I'd just love to learn a
bit more about Greg's life.
Thank you, Lee. Well, Greg, it's such a pleasure to meet you. I'm
based here in South Australia, and we hear a lot about space and
space careers, but actually, it's a real privilege to speak to
someone who's actually been into space. Um, I'd love to learn a
little bit more about you and your journey into space. How did how
did you aspire to to pursue that as a career and um perhaps what
are your ex experiences in in going out into space?
Well, yeah, you know, in a way you forced me to uh to tell you
about my childhood and and Jackie's heard this a thousand
times.
I love hearing it. Don't worry.
But um yeah, I grew up in Montreal, Canada. And um and this was
right around the time of the Apollo program and and I was a you
know I was a four or five year old boy watching uh you know the
Apollo program unfold with my father and my father was an engineer
and and he I just remember him you know watching things on TV and
seeing the people in mission control and just thinking you know and
saying who are these people how did they get these amazing jobs
it's got to be the coolest thing in the world and um you know and
I'm al also uh you know watching well that time Star Trek right and
uh seeing somebody gallivanting around the the galaxy, exploring
new worlds and so on. Uh and then we went to Florida for a vacation
and it happened to be at the time of the Apollo 11 liftoff and I
got to see that personally. I in fact I was I was playing on a
jungle gym when I was watching it. But but we were watching it and
I just I was just blown away and I I told my parents, you know,
that that that time this is what I want to do. And and uh somehow
just kind of just it was so it was so impressive to see that rocket
off in person, I can still, you know, remember it and and it just
allowed me to hold on to that that dream, you know, my whole life.
Um, yeah. So, that's kind of where it started.
That's incredible. And I I think it just goes to show those
experiences as you're growing up as a child. Exposing children to
those experiences really gets them thinking about what it might be
like to to to work in that industry. Can you tell me what it's like
to be in space? What is it like to live on on the International
Space Station.
You know, it's it's been a while now since I've been there, but I
still have dreams continually that I'm fly I'm floating around, you
know. It's a it's a different life, you know. But the amazing thing
is, you know, we we are we are amazingly adaptable, you know, and
it gets to a point where uh that is that is the way you live and
you can't even remember I remember getting to a point where I can't
even fully remember what it feels like to have gravity and you know
and I you just you know everywhere you want to go you fly. Um, and
this is kind of a, you know, when you're on the ground, uh, I mean,
when you live on Earth, you know, you have dreams. Sometimes people
have dreams of flying. And I always had dreams of flying. And in
those dreams, I remember, you know, uh, um, I I would I would fly,
but I would be near the ground and I wouldn't have a lot of control
of where I was going. You know, I would try to get somewhere, but I
couldn't. You know, it wasn't even as good as swimming where I
could actually force myself to go where I wanted to go. And then,
you know, I got to live that way and you know for six months and uh
you know you never you never sit down, you never you know stand up
and and um and you fly everywhere you want to go and now I have
dreams you know uh that are the that are where now I know how to
fly and I have dreams that I can go wherever I want to go and you
know and uh um you know it's a it's it's a place that once you're
you know once you've got a chance to to experience that and see the
world from that perspective you know uh another aspect that it's
just, you know, we all know what the world looks like from space.
We've all seen a lot of pictures of it, but it's it's a different
thing to see it with your own eyes. I said, "Wow, it's there. It
is. It's a it's a ball hanging in emptiness." You know, it's just
amazing thing to see with your own eyes. And I remember when I
looked through a telescope for the first time and and saw Saturn
and you know, you know, we look up at the stars and the sky all the
time and we see lots of dots and we see the moon, but you know,
suddenly you look through a telescope and you realize that dot is
not just a dot. You can see see the rings and you go, you know,
you're in the middle of this incredible place. You know, these
things are far away, but you're in the middle of this incredible
place. And um it it's the same thing, you know, seeing uh the
Earth, you know, from from the space station.
I can imagine it gives you an incredible perspective on on life and
and you especially given what's happening in the world. Did it make
you think differently about your own life and and about, you know,
how we how we need to get on with one another given And this is the
only home we've got.
Yeah. I mean there's an incredible sense of you know um you know
maybe I could say like you know the mother earth you know I mean
that's our home and uh how important it is to take care of it. It's
the only place where we can live and when you go when you're up
there and you look around there's nothing there's nothing for in
every direction for as as far as you can imagine you know and then
and every other place that's nearby is not necessarily well
certainly not hospitable without a lot of technology to be able to
live there. Um so it's so it's so important. It's the place that we
share in. So yeah, absolutely. I mean it's very painful to see the
kind of conflict that you know that we're watching right now.
Yeah, absolutely.
Well, let's hope that there's a a resolution on the horizon. Um to
happier news, I I was watching your movie, Greg. I didn't realize
you were also a movie star. Um how did how did you how did you get
involved in that project? Can you tell us a little bit about the
movie.
You're talking about the movie we made on the space station.
Yes. Yes.
All right. Because I' I've been involved in some real ones. That
one was that one was very embarrassing. That's there's nothing
about that that isn't embarrassing. Um so Richard Garrett is a was
a space tourist or a private astronaut as he likes to call himself
and um maybe that's a better label and um or title and uh he came
up and he had the plan to do this and Um uh so we went along with
it and um you know and he he produced it into a real real film but
um you know we had a chance to look at our lines. We didn't know
what he was planning with the whole thing. We did what we told we
did what he told us and um and then lo and behold you know we're
we're part of the first movie made in space. But um uh yeah I don't
recommend it.
It's it's a great it's a great movie. I love watching it. It was it
was fascinating to watch. I was just for me sorry Beth. I was Just
Richard Garrett for me is someone I knew growing, you know, as a
child in the 80s. I was playing Wing Commander and Ultimate Games
and I was kind of really close to that world that Richard Garrett
was kind of and he was just he was such a creative person, but I
was like I I know it's been some time now since you met him, but is
is he what kind of person is he like? Because to be one of the very
first space tourists, as you say, as well was such a thing back
then.
Yeah. Yeah, that's right. And it was a pleasure to have him on the
space station. I you know, different pe people looked at it a
different ways, you know, he he went up, you know, um it was
through, you know, Russia that he flew and, you know, and so there
were there weren't financial agreements with with NASA directly,
you know, and so NASA was in a way forced to accommodate, you know,
uh, these um, space tourists that were going up through the Russian
route. The Russians wanted to do that. Um, so the the US, you know,
involvement was really just make sure that they know what not to
touch or don't break anything. Here's what you can use, you know,
very limited amount of training and they were supposed to mostly
over in the Russian segment. But, you know, the the I spent a lot
of time with him in Star City. He was training there, you know,
when I was there. And um and we we got to know we you know, it
turned out we had some hobbies in common that we we um we also
filmed the first magic show in space ever together.
Wow.
And I brought all the I brought all the props up, waiting for him
for four and a half months to get there. And then we we practiced
juggling and doing magic together in zero gravity, which was a
little tricky. And um but we learned how to do it. And We had a
good we had a good time. But I you know my my feeling about the
whole thing was you know I I was the I was at that point
experienced in on the space station. You know very comfortable
there. I could I could manage my own work and also film it at the
same time and help film somebody else do their thing and and um you
know the fir your first days in space can be difficult. You know
you might have a headache. You might feel sick. You you know you're
not used to moving around. You're bumping into things. And I just
did everything I could to make him comfortable and help him. You
know he had a he actually a pretty significant um ambitious list of
experiments and things that he wanted to get done and so you know
um we just did everything possible to make him welcome and and get
the ma max maximum he could out of his his time in space and it was
a pleasure to have him up there. C
can I ask a question just following up on that when you talk about
space tourism how how have you felt in the last you know six to
seven months or so since you know Jeff Bezos and uh all the other
private firms are getting people up into space what what are your
feelings around that.
Well, um there's a lot of feelings to tell you because um as a kid,
my one of my hero was Captain Kirk, you know, and he and and I I
was the first one to speak to him from space. Uh I called him from
the space station and I, you know, at the time I I couldn't believe
I was the first person to talk to, you know, Captain Kirk from
outer space and and that I was the one in space and he was the one
on the ground. I just couldn't believe it. Um so, way to see him
fly, you know. Um, it just it just it just I'm just so happy that
that happened. I think that's the coolest thing ever. Um, and and I
think it's great. I mean, you know, uh, you know, the you know, the
more people can get into space, the more people will appreciate
what we have here on Earth. And, you know, and and I think it all
it does is lead to more cooperation and and care and, you know, and
collaboration um, you know, and taking care of the planet. I think
it's uh I think it's all it's all good and I think, you know, that
the the the real explosion, you know, of humankind into space and
off to other planets and, you know, is really going to come when
when um it can be, you know, commercial and public. Um the public
can go, that's really when it's going to explode. And so this is
what it t this is what it takes to to make that happen.
And and Greg, you have been personally involved in a number of
projects that help to inspire the next generation of of people in
this field. Can you tell us a little bit about why you think that's
an important area to be invested in?
Well, you know, I think Jackie's I'm sure going to talk about this
too, but you know, there's there's um there's nothing that I can
think of that is more inspirational for kids uh than the topic of
space, you know, and I and you know, could be many reasons why, but
I think, you know, part of it is it's it's exploration, you know,
it's the unknown, it's discovery,
um but it's a future. It also has something to do with planning the
future, you know, for humankind and and and a positive future and
then contributing to that positive vision uh for you know for
humanity and and so um you know people people at least here in the
states you know they keep saying stuff like well you know after
Apollo the public lost interest in space and I don't see that at
all whenever I'm talking to an audience that the the excitement is
unbelievable about space and I think there was maybe you know
political will and other issues and so on but I don't you know what
I see is that you know kids are are just fanatical about space and
um and so it's a fantastic you know uh way to engage them in in in
STEM all all the STEM subjects you know um you asked about the
different uh things that I did the first one first big one for me
really was happened while I was on my mission because well a couple
of them I played chess against uh students from space um through
the uh US chess federation and that was a lot of fun um but we had
some robots on the space station and I Even before I flew, you
know, these these robots were built by MIT and uh of course there
were, you know, uh they're on the space station. So there's kind of
an MIT NASA uh relationship there. And and I was being trained to
operate them for experiments and even before I flew I said to the
MIT folk and I went to MIT so they're my colleague sort of um and I
said you know this would be an amazing STEM competition. Kids could
program if I could program these robots kids could program these
robots and these robots could go around and do things in space.
that you know that the kids you know made happen. So we we created
a competition um is the robots were called spheres that stands for
something very long. Um and zero robotics became the name of the
competition kind of like uh takeoff on first robotics but maybe
coming first or zero gravity. Um and and so we've did that for many
years and and now reviving again with with the next generation of
robots and that's been a worldwide activity. Jackie and I did that
together in in Australia with 50 high schools in in in Australia.
participating in that. Uh the only reason it stopped was they
retired the old robots and they're waiting for the new ones. Um and
but it's a all you know all the countries involved in the space
station have had students participating in that and it's been an
amazing program because they they they work you know in simulation
but then they have a live event with the crew when the crew is uh
and they're talking to the crew and they're flying their robots on
the space station. It's really really cool. Um and then you know we
we've created space teams which I know we're going to talk about
but that's that that came after that was inspired partly by by zero
robotics.
So tell tell us a bit more about space teams then and then we segue
into Jackie's role with that as well. So what what just give us a
bit of a high level view on that.
Yeah. So so space teams you know was in some ways the idea there
was you know how do we get the the world to participate in planning
the this future you know off off planet earth and because you know
what I saw I spent many years you know teaching in Australia at the
University of Sydney. It's when I met Jackie for the first time and
um and uh you know what I saw was you know you know the same
enthusiasm as as anywhere about you know wanting to do things that
are space related and and but it's very difficult because of the
sort of the distance from the centers of these activities you know
which are you know in you know soon I mean at some point soon every
country you know every first world country anyway will have a space
program that's thriving and Australia's is is is beginning to
really thrive. But it's really hard to especially human space
flight. It's very hard to be involved from afar, you know, and and
the idea was how can we get, you know, students and everyone to
participate in in the future of spaceflight. And um and it wasn't
actually space teams, it was called spacecraft that we that came
out of that. So spacecraft is the platform we run it on. And the
idea was to use the new tools of virtual reality and you know and
uh um that you know we're becoming more familiar with um to create
the possibility of experiencing well designing, testing and
experiencing entire missions um virtually and then being able to
participate in that activity from anywhere. And so that's what we
did. We started building my I'm at the uh Texas&M University
and my lab is called the Astro Lab. Uh and we that's what we
started doing was building this this uh spacecraft platform which
is you know the idea is you know uh it could be you know companies
it could be students but they can build things and design things
that are for future space missions um and then interact and share
and collaborate with each other, you know, all on these
platforms.
That's fantastic.
Yeah. And then we basically built the a STEM version of that that
would be, you know, so the younger younger kids could also do, you
know, similar things would have this similar space experience kind
of leading toward the more advanced um real world, you know, design
possibilities.
That's brilliant because that kind of segus into Jackie work, I
suppose. So, let's explore Jackie's work a little bit as well and
then maybe Lee you can pick up on the space teams think because I
know you're passionate about that. So, so Jackie, we've known each
other for quite some time. You, you know, you've been active in
this area and and an advocate for STEM and space and science
education for years in Australia. You've had phenomenal impact. Um,
like it must be amazing. I know you know uh VG for quite some time.
So, um, it must be amazing to hear him speak and you've probably
heard a lot of the stories, but it's always blows your mind, right?
Oh, I can tell you. Um, it was so funny because a mutual friend of
ours, Ed Van SC, who's a NASA flight director, he sent me a
message, um, an SMS, and he said, "I hope I haven't overstepped
them up, but I've asked this astronaut to look you up. He's coming
to Sydney." So, immediately I started sweating and shaking. It was
like 3:00 in the morning. And I thought, "What am I going to talk
to an astronaut about?" Oh, you know, and absolutely freaking out.
And I'll never forget because I sent back to Greg and he was
laughing about my message um that I sent back to him and um and and
he was here and then I was teaching at the time. So I kept saying
to him, "We got to catch up. Time's ticking." And he's not looking
at the school schedule. And I'm looking at it going, "School
holidays are finishing. Greg's going to leave and I'm going to miss
this opportunity." So don't tell anyone, but I took a sicky from
school, booked a casual, went um got a doctor's ticket, was sick,
jumped the train, met Greg in a park, club was a 1-hour meeting um
in uh the Swan and Duck or something or whatever it's called at in
uh near the uni and um that 1hour meeting turned into two hours and
uh and I will never forget Greg said to me, you know, we're the
only two crazy people who think like this so we have to sit
together and that's been amazing. It's just been wonderful. Um it
just I I can't tell you what it's like to sit with Greg and just I
mean we've sat in a pub together and just chatted about space
What's it like to walk in space? What's that feeling? And I mean,
Greg doesn't wear his like wide astronaut suit, so no one knows.
So, you're just sitting there having this bit of a chat and I'm
drinking a um I'll never forget I was drinking a Coke Zero and Greg
was drinking a I think a fire engine or something and we're sitting
opposite the raft based Richmond chatting away watching the planes
take off and land and um honestly it's just amazing. We I have so
much fun. Um Greg Greg's stories are incredible. I just I wake up a
lot of days and think, how have I become friends with somebody like
Greg? He's just amazing. And um
but I think but I think your impact as well I know is it is
phenomenal. But the impact you've had in the Australian education
sphere, you know, is is is phenomenal. Like I said earlier on, you
know, there was a time when every every event I was in, you were
there standing up speaking to teachers. It was kind of it was kind
of the the Jackie show doing all of the and and one giant leap
foundation and moving moving that uh through. And I know you're
very about that and you're always talking to partners and and
things in that area and the impact you've had on kids in Australia
is is fantastic. So, do you want to tell us a bit about um One
Giant Leap?
One Giant Leap. Well, One Giant Leap started around 2015, I'd say,
cuz I like when I Dan, when you and I met, it was like 2005, 2006.
And um and so I really started STEM doing STEM stuff in my class.
well before anybody else even called it STEM. And um so 2015 I
decided to leave the system and um and start one giant leap because
I was being restricted down to just my school or just my system and
so many people were begging me, please Jackie, I want you to work
with my child. It just um and I felt like I could have far bigger
impact and then when I met up with Greg and Greg became the patron
of one giant leap and their momentum started building. Um I I
really there are kids out there that we need to find. It's what
Beth says around opportunity. We provide them with an opportunity
and it's lifech changing and and we're finding kids. We're stopping
kids from um their mental health issues. We work with all kinds of
kids because they're the kids that we need to find for the jobs of
the future. the the out ofthe-box thinkers, the ones that aren't in
the city, the ones that you know that we can find, they need to
find someone or some or a company or something to come to. And
that's kind of how all that happened. So, yeah,
it's funny you met I mean you talk about the impact that this has
and I think when I first met you Jackie, we actually figured out
that my niece Olivia Griffith who went to school in Mar not far
from where you are, she did a space camp tour when you actually
went over to when we could go visit other countries. Even she's
she's 20 now, but even now she was I think she was 14 maybe at the
time at that sort of age, she still talks about it. It's still one
of those markers in her life that got her into realizing that she
could do whatever she wants to do. And I think that if whether
whatever direction you take in a STEM sphere, it just gives you
that capacity to go, anything is possible. And I think that's for
me when I think about space travel and the exploration of space, it
just demonstrates the the endless potential. So I I thank you for
what you did, Jackie, because you know, being a part of that one
giant leap doing those programs.
We We have helped probably I don't know we probably given away
80,000 $800,000 in grant money to kids. We've helped them find
money. We get people to sponsor kids um every every which way I
know how and ask Greg. I'm always trying on the hunt for this
$1,000 for this kid or you know $500 for this kid. And um and so
it's the kids who can't afford it who really the the difference is
huge. And you just make sure that jump that that high jump bar is
just a bit out of their reach. So, they jump over it and they have
this massive sense of achievement. So, um Lee, you talk about that.
Um my first ever space camp trip, there was a kid who helped me all
the time. I was at Bunnings Barbecues running election barbecues,
all these different kinds of thing to raise money for kids. And
this kid helped me for 18 months knowing full well he couldn't
go.
Wow.
Right. And I and this kid I raped some friends of mine who I had
helped with their child. And um and I knew they had a little bit of
money and I said to them, "Could you please help me? This this kid
really needs to go on this trip." So um they said, "Well, we don't
want him to know who it is." And to this day, he still doesn't
know. It's more than 10 years later. Um we don't want him to know
it's us because we don't want to be inundated with requests. So can
you go and meet a concrete public driver um in a truck in a
building site in Sydney at 4:30? in the morning on Saturday and
pick up a check. So, I did do that and then I went to his house and
announced to the whole family that he was going to space camp. Um,
and that kid um then from that he um he then made sure his sister
went and then he turned up at a fundraiser. He was in year eight.
Turned up at one of my fundraisers and he handed me over an
envelope with um with $400 in it. He to he taken on a part-time job
and he said to me, "This isn't enough. But it's a start. One day
I'm going to pay for a kid. So tomorrow that guy now is working at
the Crown um prosecutor's office in Sydney. And tomorrow he's
handing me over $5,000 to send a kid on one of my trips and he's
22. And that's the crux of what we do. And that's why it's Greg and
I are so passionate about it. It's about passing it forward. It's
about being kind. It's it's all these things wrapped up into that
inspirational thing. So you Talk about inspiration like Greg I
don't know if people know this but Greg in 2008 I think Greg you
took waddle seeds wom my pine seeds flannel flowers and warar seeds
to the space station um and it was through NASA I didn't know this
and anyone who knows right now I've got the what'll happen to the
waddle program happening with 300 locations in our country growing
waddle that we sent to the space station now I didn't know Greg had
done that. So when I found out Greg had done that, I went on the
hunt to try and find Greg's space waddle trees and I couldn't find
them because they have a certain lifespan. So the cool thing is I
didn't know but I'm now building on Greg's experiment and um and if
you have a look at the seeds in space website that we're running um
we have amazing like seven seven kids in a school in New South
Wales who want to grow the space waddle and they want to make a
memorial garden for their gardener who passed away. So there's all
these stories wrapped around the preschools, the SC the girl
guides, the scout groups and all of that doing the um the seeds in
space program. And we haven't announced it yet, but we've um we're
just about I'm working with 11 space agencies in the Asia-Pacific
to expand the seeds in space program to get groups of kids here to
work with groups of kids in another country to grow plants because
it's all about like what Greg says, looking after the planet,
having a look at sustainability. If we are going to go to space,
how can we feed ourselves and be sustainable and be happy? Because
growing plants, it's great mental health. Um we can do it for
medicinal reasons. There's a whole lot of reasons why the seeds in
space program is really um really taking off. And um so it's funny,
Greg, you talked about zero robotics and um I remember Greg was
saying, I'm going to do this thing, this zero robotics, and what is
it? So here we are at Sydney Uni 2. in the morning with a link up
to the space station eating lollies to try and stay awake high
budget effort you know like uh it's a bit like the arnets biscuits
and the instant coffee in you know when you do teach professional
development see we are eating all these lollies and pizza trying to
stay awake with our link up with the ISS and it's amazing to be
able to just sit there and the kids ask questions the astronauts
answer back they're getting all the the spheres ready and and all
of that and like Greg said the upgrading those robots. And in the
meantime, NASA um has come over to the KBO robot programming
challenge, which is one that we run through the Japanese Space
Agency. Um this will be the third year we're doing it, where high
school, well, all any student, as long as they haven't graduated
from university, can operate robots in real time on board the space
station using simulators. And the group that represented Australia
last year in that group was an 11 year old girl from Martan public
schools. So she was competing against um against university teams
from other countries and battling it out. Um so you sit there and
it's 5h hour link up you make a coffee and you they go through loss
you know loss of signal so you go off and you run to the L and have
a cup of tea and come back and back into it again. So highly
recommend um KBO RPC. Um it's free. We run it for free. and it's
high level programming. Um,
what an impact you have though, Jackie. You know, just listening to
listening to you there, you know, the the the programs that you've
come up with in Australia and and the support you've gained from
your contacts like Greg and and and others have been absolutely
fantastic and the impact, you know, um, we'll share in the show
notes
all of the links to the programs you've got coming up and and ways
to get in contact with you because, you know, I think this is like
you said there, this is a team sport. Interestingly, you know, We
seeing from a Microsoft point of view quite a lot of um you know
like Beth's doing a lot on South Australia, Lee's doing a lot
around space now and and lots of our cloud stuff in space which is
which is interesting. So you're seeing a lot of technology
companies moving that way and I hope that means that you'll get
more investment and support and and and people interested to keep
that momentum moving because I suppose globally with COVID and
things and and and you know the way the world is at the minute pro
programs and things are scaling back. Private investment is kind of
taking over in some of these areas. And I think we've got to really
try to all pulled together for the greater good here. But the the
impact you had, Jackie, is just phenomenal. And just thank you
from, you know, for all the educators and and kids that you've had
impact with over the time as well. Um yeah, great work.
Thank you.
We've just come back from Dubai. Um we showcased a program called
the Connecting Minds Project which I came up with And I've
connected five New South Wales schools with five schools in the in
the United Arab Emirates. And it was all girls. We thought we'd
have 50 girls. We ended up with 97 cuz all the parents complained
their child wasn't involved. Um and we showcased those five space
STEM projects on the global stage in the Australian pavilion at
Expo.
Amazing.
And um and that's on our website. And what they came up with was
amazing. We had year three and four girls from Aubry working with
year 11 girls in the UAE. such amazing projects when you can give
people the license to go forward and come up with stuff that works
for them. Um so we're about to start what we're calling mission one
in August um this year, August to the end of the year and we're
hoping to showcase that um next March in Dubai. There's something
coming up there in Dubai. Um and so we're looking for schools that
might want to sign up for that. But at the moment the biggest thing
is um Greg space teams program. We um Greg doesn't know this, but
I've actually assisted 130 kids to get grants to the tune of nearly
$70,000 so that they can uh register and enroll in Greek's program.
Um and I'm on the hunt for more and I'm also on the hunt for kids
who might want to get a scholarship because I've got an opportunity
I might be able to get them in for free if they um contact me. So
um you know, all these things going on, but we ran the first ever
Australia's virtual space mission and it was mad. It was absolutely
crazy. This um Wings magazine, I can send you the link has got the
article about it. Six hours a day for six days. I was dead by the
end. Greg nearly killed me. I tell you, it was fullon. It was
great. The kids loved it. Building planets, building spaceships,
flying spaceships, learning from like Greg's mate, Greg, um Greg
Johnson, teaching them how to what it's like to fly a spacecraft
compared to flying an aircraft. So, you have an astronaut who's a
shuttle pilot for an hour talking to you in real time, so you can
ask any questions you like. Um, so he talks about how it's
different. And then, um, Ben Morel, who's from Sydney Uni, who
works at NASA JPL, um, a friend that Greg's introduced me to, Mars
robots. So, He talks for an hour about Mars rovers and stuff. So
when the kids are talking about traversing on their planet, um Ben
gives them a one-hour lecture and you can ask any questions you
want. So every day there's an expert in the field. Um Todd Barber
talks about orbital mechanics, but he refers to it as galactic
ballet. Um and he's u he's a really cool guy who we brought one
giant leaf Australia brought him out to Australia um two years in a
row. Um, honestly, I cannot tell you how cool this space teams
program is. Um, we've got I've convinced Greg to do it on the 4th
of July. Can you believe it? 4th of July to the 9th of July. And
um, and also too, I've asked him to do one in science week. So,
schools are looking for something to sign up to for their kids to
do in science week. It's all day, six days straight. So,
I can tell Jackie I did it with you. You know, I've done I've done
two space teams events now as a mentor. I've sat on those look I'm
wearing the jacket and everything. No, you know, and it's amazing
to hear, like you said, just to have somebody who's done it telling
you about how to do it. That's that's mind-blowing for the kids
that are on it. And then for me, as I sat there as a mentor and I'm
trying to help these kids land their their their orbital module on
the planet, by the way, I crashed it every single time. Greg did
not send me into space as much as I wanted to go. I clearly be a
liability. But I look, you know, you know, just to reiterate some
of the points you may but it that space teams program it is so
empowering for kids to do things that are outside of the scope of
you know traditionally what kids might particularly kids in
Australia who you know up until recently a space program was
something that happened somewhere else in Australia uh and that is
starting to change and you know what you're doing with space teams
is great so you know whatever we can do to amplify that get more
kids involved get more schools leading it get more parents to be
connected to it and of course we continue to be happy mentors of
that program I would sign up again in a shot to do it because, you
know, I just space nerd. It's just fun to do. Um, so yeah, whatever
we can do to get people doing that. But but Jackie and Greg, I
we're kind of getting close to time, but I wanted to ask you
because I was at Space Forum, as I said, just last week and, uh,
Enrio of the space the Australian Space Agency and the minister uh,
the the premier, sorry, in South Australia, uh, Marshall made some
statements around the ambitions for the Australian space agency and
space industry. And I'm sure you're probably aware of this, but
what was most impactful, and I'd like to get your thoughts on it is
the ambition to actually have an astronaut training program and an
astronaut system here in Australia building the future of
astronauts kind of what are your thoughts on on the potential for
that break maybe start with you
finally finally
I've been waiting for this
yeah you know I I I lived in Australia for a couple of years and 93
to 95 and then came back again uh for five years part-time you know
to the university Sydney uh in uh 2013 and um you know that we were
talking about this the whole time you know that this is this is
going to come eventually um you know you know it happened in Canada
you know many years before and there was a very good model for
making that work you know where there's certain technologies that
that uh you know each country can provide and export and can help
to create their their space industry and their space program and
when it reaches a certain point you know then uh you're you know
then it's possible to have your you know a real space agency which
and that now was finally happened if you know several years ago now
already and um and then you know next thing is to have your own uh
training program in your own operations and there are oper there
are space operations happening you know in Australia controlling
you know and monitoring satellites and um that's already been going
on for quite some time and so this is the next step and it's
fantastic news and of course you of course you've had a couple of
um Australian astronauts um and uh you know and um they're they're
both you know wonderful people that I've spent some time with um
Andy Thomas much more than uh than others but anyway it's uh it you
know uh that they had to go through a very circuitous path to get
there and being able to do it you know directly through Australia
will be fantastic and I know I have a lot of students down there
who will be signing up for that program.
Yeah. Yeah. It's awesome. It's awesome.
And let's um let's hope that that is a beacon for for people to
want to get into the industry. One of the things that I found
surprising in spending time with our own um space people in uh at
Microsoft is just how diverse the roles are in the space industry
and and how space is a place for everyone. I wondered if we could
just close out by just reflecting on what you you think is the
important element in trying to attract a diverse set of people to
these types of jobs. and roles because even though astronaut being
an astronaut is a cool idea, you don't have to be wanting to go out
to space. It can it can kind of ignite a lot of different passions.
Do you have any thoughts about that?
Yeah, I'm glad I'm glad you brought that up because then that's
something that we try to you know hit on in space as well and that
you know the the there's so you know just about every you know
almost every career you can think of has a role in space if that's
the arena that you want to apply it to you know and and
specifically of course you know engineering you know and science
and med And but but you know many many others law it could be
there's you know every arena you can think of there's a there's a
there's a uh there's there's a space application for that and and
whatever it is it's growing in the future. So we've been talking
about plants you know growing plants in space. Well space
horticulture is this is a brand new field and it's going to grow
immensely you know over the years to comes because we want to be
able to be sustainable and we talked a little bit earlier about
being sustainable. It's also part of the space team program is you
know they try to build their missions So when they get to their
final planet, they can find the resources to live there and and
live there sustainably, you know, for as long as they want to stay,
maybe forever. Um, and so, uh, you know, horiculture, for is a
great example of just something that's really budding, you know,
um, field.
I do like that pun. It is actually
on purpose.
I was um, I was talking to a florist the other day who wants to
apply to our women in space program we're running here in South
Australia. So, I will make sure to go and speak with her and say
that actually you these are transferable skills and I I I assume
that they wouldn't be but um you know flowers in space perhaps that
your next movie as well Greg um
thank you so so much for spending time with us to tell to tell us
about the amazing scope of work that you're leading uh on behalf of
budding astronauts everywhere but especially the budding astronauts
and and space industry people of of Australia. Thank you so much
for your time.
Thank you both.
Been a pleasure.
Thanks everybody. Discovery Houston 20 seconds to lost Ted
Dris.
Nice to be in orbit.