Leroy Chiao
Leroy Chiao
Leroy Chiaois an American engineer, former NASA astronaut, entrepreneur, motivational speaker and engineering consultant. Chiao flew on three shuttle flights, and was the commander of Expedition 10, where he lived on board the International Space Station from October 13, 2004 to April 24, 2005. He is also a co-author and researcher for the Advanced Diagnostic Ultrasound in Microgravity Project...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionAstronaut
Date of Birth28 August 1960
CityMilwaukee, WI
CountryUnited States of America
I think one of the big moments for me was the second EVA. Basically it was the last EVA of my career, my flying career, so it was poignant for me to look out in to the black, open space and bid space farewell.
But it's also a lot of hard work, and it's a long time to be away from your family and friends. So I had a lot of different feelings.
Of course it's exciting to be in space, exciting to look down at the Earth and perform the science experiments and maintenance work.
My parents always tried to teach us the best of both, the Chinese ethic of hard work and education and the American ethic of innovation of aspiration.
The mental stress shouldn't be underplayed. When you're out there doing the work, you can't help but feel the pressure.
As commander I was responsible for the overall success of the mission, and so I had to know at least a little bit about everything.
One day, people will be able to buy tickets to visit space.
I'm Chinese-American, of course, and so it's very interesting to see China actually launch their own astronauts, becoming the third nation, following the United States and Russia, to do so.
I would say keep supporting space flight, keep telling the public and the politicians why it's important to advance science and explore the galaxy. I encourage the Japanese to keep doing what they're doing.
Space is very unforgiving business
Of course, you'll have to meet the physical and psychological demands. A space walk takes a lot of energy.
I had done everything I could do as an astronaut, and we have a long line of inexperienced astronauts waiting for their first missions, and so my role really should be to step aside and help them prepare for their missions, rather than to try to get another mission.
There is no one area of chemical engineering that specifically helped me in my career as an astronaut, it was more the general education in engineering. Also, it was a very difficult and rigorous course. So, it made me strong and resourceful.
I loved flying as much as I thought I would and continue to fly aircraft.