“Houston We Have a Podcast” is the official podcast of the NASA Johnson Space Center, the home of human spaceflight, stationed in Houston, Texas. We bring space right to you! On this podcast, you’ll learn from some of the brightest minds of America’s space agency as they discuss topics in engineering, science, technology and more. You’ll hear firsthand from astronauts what it’s like to launch atop a rocket, live in space and re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere. And you’ll listen in to the more human side of space as our guests tell stories of behind-the-scenes moments never heard before.
NASA astronaut Tyler “Nick” Hague and his wife, Lieutenant Colonel Catie Hague, talk about Nick’s journey to becoming an astronaut, his education, and his time in the U.S Air Force. The couple discusses how their family is prepared for the journey ahead. This episode was recorded on June 29th, 2018.
Transcript
Gary Jordan (Host): Houston, we have a podcast. Welcome to the official podcast of the NASA Johnson Space Center, Episode 65, We’re Not in Kansas Anymore. I’m Gary Jordan and I’ll be your host today. So, if you’re new to the show, we bring in NASA experts to talk about all different parts of our space agency. Sometimes we get lucky enough to bring in astronauts and talk about their story and today we’re talking with Colonel Tyler Hague, goes by Nick. He’s a U.S. astronaut and an Air Force colonel and he’s about to launch to the International Space Station here in October for his very first space flight. We talked about his education, studying astronautical and aeronautical engineering and his time in the U.S. Air Force and his training and expectations before his first trip to space. Also, we were lucky enough for Lieutenant Colonel Catie Hague, his wife, to stop by the studio and talk about their family life and the expectations of how his space flight is going to be on their family. So, with no further delay, let’s go lightspeed and jump right ahead to our talk with Nick and Catie Hague. Enjoy.
[ Music ]
Host: Nick, thank you so much for joining me today to tell your story.
Col. Nick Hague: Yeah, absolutely. Glad to be with you.
Host: So, I kind of wanted to start from your humble beginnings in Kansas. You know, you were growing up in a small town there, right?
Nick Hague: Yeah. Yeah. So, I grew up in a few different small towns, graduated from Hoxie, Kansas out in northwest Kansas. My parents are educators and so we moved around a couple different times through my, you know, K-12 education. But, yeah, I’m a Kansas product.
Host: What do they teach?
Nick Hague: So, my dad was a high school football coach and then he got into administration and retired as a superintendent. My mother is a fifth-grade elementary educator.
Host: OK. Do you know what subject she teaches?
Nick Hague: So, it was social studies.
Host: Social studies, OK.
Nick Hague: Social studies and reading.
Host: OK. Seems like your dad– I mean, seems like he kind of moved his way up the chain like a true leader then. Did you take a lot of influence and inspiration from him?
Nick Hague: Yeah, you know I took a lot of inspiration and influence from my parents. They’ve instilled in me the whole, you know, work ethic and nothing comes easy, you’re going to have to try. You’re going to stumble, you’re going to fall, you’re going to get a bloody knee or– and but you’ve got to get up and dust yourself off and keep going. So, they instilled in me the idea of, you know, right and wrong and just the importance of a hard day’s work and– but I think, you know, most importantly they always believed in me and taught me to believe in myself.
Host: That’s pretty important.
Nick Hague: Yeah.
Host: Did your dad ever push football on you or any kind of sports?
Nick Hague: So, growing up in rural America, you know, I graduated with a high school class of 39 people, so it was a small class. If we wanted an athletic team, pretty much everybody had to play. So, I played football and basketball and baseball and ran in track and did a bunch of other stuff too. Which I think is– I mean that’s a little secret about growing up in rural America. People will tend to focus on all the things that are missing, but there’s a lot of opportunity there. If you go into a really big, really big high school, you may only be able to do one sport. You know, I was able to do four sports and be on the debate team and do forensics and do all of these other things. So, there’s something special about growing up in a small town.
Host: Yeah. I know for me personally, I mean, I grew– I graduated I think 530. Yeah, it was a little bigger of a class and I tried every sport, but I was just awful, so that’s why I stuck with– I ended up being in the media room. I was editing videos instead. That was just how I–
Nick Hague: I told you I played a lot of sports, I didn’t say I was great at a lot of sports.
Host: So, you know, the next step for you, you know, after graduating was the Air Force Academy. I’m guessing somewhere along the line in early education was some sort of influence for STEM, math, science, some kind of interest there. Do you know when that sparked?
Nick Hague: You know, ever science I can remember I’ve always just– kind of math has come a little bit easy and I’ve always been interested in how things work. Finding a broken toy and putting it back together. Building LEGOs, you know, all those things that kids do. I just naturally gravitated towards those. And, you know, the idea of being an engineer, I don’t think I really appreciated that until I was a senior in college, right, at the Air Force Academy that, hey, I’m an engineer. You know? Now when I look at– look at– look at my sons, you know, I can see engineer tendencies and I know that someday that, you know, they may come to that realization, hey, well, I’m an engineer too. But it’s– when I was growing up, it was just I did the things that I enjoyed and I gravitated towards engineering and physics, you know, and math and it just came a little easier and I guess that’s why I liked to do it.
Host: You just found like a natural talent for it. You’re like I’m good at this and I think I can be successful at it.
Nick Hague: Yeah, and maybe it’s as much of a I like puzzles and so it’s constantly being thrown a new puzzle, a new, you know, math problem, a new, hey, design this. It’s all about puzzles.
Host: Yeah. Fixing things and then stepping back and looking at the thing you fixed and kind of feeling proud of that.
Nick Hague: Yeah, yeah.
Host: So, where did the Air Force Academy come in? What made you want to pursue the Air Force over other options?
Nick Hague: Yeah, so, you know, kind of my first exposure to the Air Force Academy was on one of these education conferences that my parents would go to over the summer. And it was up in Denver and Colorado Springs where the Air Force Academy is located is just a little south of Denver and one of those, you know, side excursions that the conference organized was a trip to the Air Force Academy. So, my parents took me along and that was my exposure to it. And I saw, you know, just the structure and the– just the way of life, it was– it was– it was something that just– there was a spark there and I was like, hey, you know, I’d be interested in going to school here. And, you know, that was in junior high. And then I spent the next couple years trying to meet, you know, meet the representatives that I was going to need congressional appointment from.
Writing letters to their offices saying, hey, I’m in ninth grade and I’m interested. Don’t forget about me. I’m going to be looking for an appointment here in four years. And so that was a long process, but it also taught me that, you know, once I finally got accepted to the academy that, hey, you know, investing the time can really produce results.
Host: Yeah. It was that– it was that visit, though. I mean you kind of– when you were there, you imagined yourself there and realized that this is something that I can actually fit in. I would like to be here and be successful here.
Nick Hague: Yeah. Absolutely. And it was– it’s grown more within me now, but it’s this idea that, hey, I want to be a part of something big. And maybe it’s because I came from, you know, a small town in western Kansas where you feel like you’re not part of something big and the rest of the world seems like it’s a long ways away.
Host: Right.
Nick Hague: You know, all– you see all the stuff happening on the news and it doesn’t seem like it really affects anything that’s going on because you’re so removed from all that.
Host: Yeah.
Nick Hague: And so the idea of being part of something big, serving the country, being in the Air Force, I think that that made that really, really exciting.
Host: It was like this sort of distant sort of idea, you know, you’re living in your remote town, but it’s like, wow– it’s almost like a fairy tale land. Kind of out there, you know, something– if I can go there and achieve, imagine what’s possible. Almost.
Nick Hague: Yeah, it’s– you know, it’s trying to chase an opportunity.
Host: Yeah. So, I noticed that you graduated with a bachelor’s in astronautical engineering, so it seems like space was already something that influenced you along– maybe it was the Air Force or maybe it was before that. Where did that–
Nick Hague: Yeah. So, I grew up staring at the night sky.
Host: Oh, yeah.
Nick Hague: And so I was interested in space and the idea of exploration and, you know, the Air Force Academy at that time, you know, when I was looking around at all my options, that was the place to go study astro– that was– the astronautical engineering program that they had there, you know, I– when I graduated, I had actually worked on building a satellite. And, you know, they’re still doing that today, but, you know, it was one of the first places in the world where undergraduate students were building satellites that were going to fly on their own. So, it was just an awesome opportunity. And when I went there, it was with the idea that, hey, you know, I want to get involved with that part of it. I want to get involved with space, with engineering, and this is how it all kind of comes together.
Host: So, what made it– made you want to continue your education then? Because you kept going for aeronautical and astronautical engineering.
Nick Hague: Yeah. So, following graduation from the Air Force Academy, I was fortunate enough to get a fellowship to go to MIT. A school that I would have never guessed that I would have been able to get accepted to. So, I thank the Air Force Academy for that. But, yeah, so I continued to pursue that. I wanted to try to understand better. It’s always that idea of, you know, continual self-improvement. I want to know more about what I learned about. You keep peeling away, you know, layers of the onion trying to find out what’s below. So, that was– it was a lot of fun. It was a completely different experience going to, you know, college and, you know, going to graduate school in Boston and going to the Air Force Academy in Colorado. But it was eye-opening because of that stark difference.
Host: Eye-opening and cold. You seem to like cold places.
Nick Hague: I’ve changed that now, right?
Host: Yeah, now being in Houston a little bit differently. At what point did you meet your wife, Catie?
Nick Hague: Speak of the devil.
Host: Hey. Catie, you want to come here?
Lt. Col. Catie Hague: Sure.
Nick Hague: You can participate.
Catie Hague: Do I have a choice?
Host: You don’t have to.
Nick Hague: We’re doing a podcast.
Host: Yeah.
Catie Hague: Fun.
Host: So, was this– did you guys meet during your bachelor’s or–
Nick Hague: Yeah, so at the Air Force Academy. At the Air Force Academy. We both graduated in 1998, so we were in the same squadron the last two years there.
Host: OK.
Nick Hague: It’s kind of funny, you know, we had lunch together every day for two years.
Host: Really? As friends?
Catie Hague: Right.
Nick Hague: We didn’t– we didn’t get married until two years after graduation.
Host: OK.
Nick Hague: So, yeah, it was just–
Host: So, what were you studying? Were you studying– were you similar programs?
Catie Hague: I was studying law.
Host: Law? OK, so not similar.
Catie Hague: Not similar.
Host: But just same kind of–
Catie Hague: I am not as smart on the technical side, let’s put it that way, but, yeah, I studied law and then at the academy it’s a combination of engineering and whatever you major in. So, we wind up getting a Bachelor of Science degree in whatever it is that we’re studying. So I have a Bachelor of Science degree in law. It’s very interesting.
Nick Hague: It’s unique. Every cadet takes astronautical engineering and learns about orbits.
Host: Really?
Catie Hague: I did not do as well as Nick in that, but I tried really hard.
Host: So, why did you choose the Air Force Academy for law then?
Catie Hague: Well, I didn’t. I actually chose it because I wanted to fly.
Host: Oh, OK.
Catie Hague: Originally, I wanted to be a pilot and then I got to the Air Force Academy and found out that I was too short because I’m only five-one and you have to be five-four. Should have done better research. So, I kind of changed my tune and decided that that’s kind of what I wanted to study. My whole family is a bunch of lawyers and judges and so it’s been something I grew up with and it was very interesting to me.
Host: Were you naturally good at it like Nick was naturally good at math and science?
Catie Hague: I’m very good at arguing, yeah. And winning arguments, as he can attest to.
Nick Hague: Yes.
Host: You’re in the right field.
Nick Hague: I can vouch.
Host: You’re in the right field. So, how did you meet and start having lunch then?
Nick Hague: So, in the– in a squadron, so, the cadet wing is organized in groups of squadrons and so there’s about 120 cadets in a given squadron and all of those will sit at and have like a family-style lunch every day. So, tables of 10 with seniors and juniors and sophomores and freshmen, and we just happened to sit at the same table. And you kind of find the people you’re comfortable with and you have lunch with them over and over and over again and, yeah, so–
Catie Hague: Eventually you like them, but it takes a few years, so–
Nick Hague: It took me a long time to wear her down.
Host: But it worked. And you said you start– you didn’t date until afterwards, right?
Nick Hague: Yeah, so we had a long-distance relationship for the first two years–
Host: That’s where I was going to go.
Nick Hague: Following graduation, yeah.
Host: Yeah. So, how was that? How was fitting that into regular life?
Catie Hague: It was difficult, but it was manageable. I mean we didn’t have kids at the time, right, so it was kind of easier because you could hop on a plane after work and fly up to Boston. I was down at Tyndall Air Force Base doing public affairs, which is my career field.
Host: Mine too.
Catie Hague: So– I know. It’s the best ever.
Host: Right?
Catie Hague: Next to being an astronaut, OK, that’s kind of cool.
Host: We’re sitting next to Nick–
Catie Hague: I know, right? But, so it wasn’t too hard to– and he was doing academics as well, so his schedule wasn’t as crazy as mine was at times, so we were able to fly back and forth. Not ideal. It’s still difficult.
Nick Hague: But it’s still you know seeing every– each other, you know, a weekend once every two to three weeks, three to four weeks. Yeah.
Host: And it’s become a normal part of your life. You know, reading through your biography, it seems you had a couple deployments too and just from overhearing your interview before this, it seems like you were deployed as well.
Catie Hague: Yeah.
Host: So, you were used to the long-distance thing.
Catie Hague: Yeah, you do get used to it. It’s still very difficult, especially– I would say I didn’t realize how difficult it was with kids until we had our oldest and I wound up getting the call to deploy for a year to Iraq and he had just turned one years old. So, that was a rough one. That was probably the hardest deployment I had ever done because it was– I left when he was one and I came back when he was two and he was walking and doing all kinds of things and I didn’t know– I didn’t know him. It was– it was rough. So, that was probably the hardest deployment.
Nick Hague: It was the hardest for me.
Catie Hague: Yes, we know. Yes, yes.
Host: Were you doing a lot of the work then?
Nick Hague: The single parent.
Host: Yeah.
Nick Hague: The single parent job is not easy.
Host: Right.
Nick Hague: I have an immense appreciation for single parents out there.
Host: Yeah. You know, this makes me think about long-distance space travel. You know, you see it all the time in the movies, you know, like videoconferencing and stuff, but as we go further out into the solar system, you feel maybe a little bit more isolated, but that communication, you still need to maintain it. You’ve got to feel connected to Earth. And I’m sure you’re going to plan to do the same thing on the International Space Station, Nick.
Nick Hague: Oh, yeah. Absolutely. It’s an important part because life doesn’t stop at home. You know? When I stayed back on that deployment, that’s what I realized is that, you know, life at home doesn’t stop. Things continue to happen, you know, everyday life happens and it changes the people that are back at home. And so staying connected so that you can understand what they’re going through is important. You know, I– it’s not just about me up there having my experience. It’s about what the family is experiencing both on the ground and on orbit.
Host: Right. You know, because you only– you have your personal ambitions, right, you have your work ambitions, but once family comes into the picture, that’s a whole new thing. Right? Now you have a family to take care of, you love, and you have to balance that short amount of time we get every day and prioritize what things you’re going to, you know, you’re going to dedicate this amount of time to work, this amount of time to family, communicating. So, I mean you guys just through the deployment have had to balance that. So, what’s the– what are your tips? What are your tricks, tactics?
Nick Hague: Yeah. Perseverance.
Host: Yeah.
Nick Hague: I think communication is the key. Making sure that you just don’t stop talking to each other and always continue to share. You know, even when you were deployed and I know that you’re having a bad day and it’s a stressful thing, but if we’re having a terrible day at home, it’s important to still share that so that everybody understands what everybody’s going through. If you start not communicating, then that’s when you start to drift apart. That’s when you start to create complications.
Catie Hague: And I think, honestly, that’s probably the best part of being military to military is the fact that he knows what it’s like to be at home when I’m in an environment that’s extremely dangerous and where you’re living on edge every day from a vigilance standpoint and now it’s going to be reversed where I’m home and he’s doing the same thing. So, we both have lived that before and so we understand that dynamic and understand how to communicate through that. So, I think that’s probably prepared us for this expedition more than anything else has.
Host: Yeah. I would almost– I mean, you know, I would almost compare it to say that you might be a little bit more prepared than maybe other couples, other families, just because of the experience of having that long distance but still having to maintain– you know what it takes to maintain a successful relationship despite the distance. So, you know, tell me about some of the training that you’ve been doing more recently, Nick, to start preparing for this flight.
Nick Hague: Yeah. So, that’s a– that just kind of builds upon that learning through separation. A huge chunk of the training flow leading up to launch is time spent in Star City, just outside Moscow, learning how to fly the Soyuz and it’s a lot of time away from home. It– you know, personally, I find it very fascinating. It’s another one of those complex systems that I get to crack open the hood and see how it all works and so the engineer in me loves the puzzle.
Host: Yes.
Nick Hague: But it also takes you away from home a lot. So, that, you know, of that two years, I’d say about a year-and-a-half of that has been on the road. So, spaceflight– the separation doesn’t start at launch.
Host: Right.
Nick Hague: It starts when you’re assigned and it doesn’t stop until you’re back on the ground after your mission.
Host: Wow. So, what do you do to balance it? Are you still maintaining the long-distance communication even through the Soyuz training from Star City?
Nick Hague: Oh, absolutely.
Host: Yeah.
Nick Hague: And technology today is awesome. I remember back to the first deployment, to that deployment that you did to–
Catie Hague: Afghanistan?
Nick Hague: No, I’d say– so, the deployment to Iraq, that’s when we first started messing around with doing videoconferencing and being able to do that. The technology has gone so much– I mean we can just call up and whether it’s Skype or FaceTime or whatever you want to use, you can video call and almost with enough frequency that you’re interrupting the flow on the other end. Hey, I’ve got–
Catie Hague: Well, that is the other problem.
Nick Hague: I’ve got work to do. Stop calling me.
Catie Hague: That is the other problem.
Nick Hague: The time change. You know, I’d get done with work over there and she’s just starting her work day and so I call to check in and then she’s like I have things to do.
Host: Oh yeah. You know those– you’re going to have very busy days on the space station, honestly. I mean, you know, going over to Star City and learning about Soyuz systems is one thing, but there’s a lot of other expectations when you’re on orbit and you’re going to have very, very long days. So, fitting that in is going to be important.
Nick Hague: Yeah. Absolutely.
Host: So, what are you’re– some of your ambitions whenever you go to the space station. What do you really want to accomplish?
Nick Hague: Oh, so just–
Catie Hague: Survival.
Nick Hague: Well put. Well put. Yeah, it’s get the mission done. I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to go up there. It’s a unique position to be, you know, to go up there and be the steward of the station and help maintain it so it continues to provide the awesome opportunity it provides for scientists. And to get to be those scientists’ eyes and ears and hands and collect the data that they need to be there on that front line and experience life in zero G and to experience my body adapting to all of that. Just getting the job done is the ambition.
Host: Right.
Nick Hague: And coming back with the, you know, the personal satisfaction that, OK, I made as few mistakes as I could possibly make and I got the job done and hopefully I’ve advanced everything one step more and the next guys are in a good position to take it from there.
Host: Yeah. It’s the– because there’s a lot of demand when you’re up there, right, you’re expected to do a lot of tests and a lot of different tests too– maintenance, science, you know, spacewalks, what have you, but I like your point of saying that being successful in the tasks but also making sure that the tasks are meaningful. That they have an impact on the larger goals of the agency. And there’s a lot of stuff that we’re looking forward to. I know one of the things you’re working on now is commercial crew, so what are you working on for there?
Nick Hague: So, per the timeline right now, commercial crew, there’s the opportunity to have multiple of the first commercial crew launches come up and dock, whether that’s the unmanned variants that come up and do their first test missions or whether we’re there– I’m there long enough that I’ll see the first crew rotate up. It’s a great milestone. You know, we’re returning launch here to the U.S., which I think is a great thing, but the larger point is that it provides us with more resilience as a program. That we’ve got the ability to withstand problems with any one particular launch vehicle or spacecraft and still have a means to provide that continuous flow of astronauts and cosmonauts up there to keep doing the work. I mean ultimately that’s what it’s about. We’ve– going to have the station, you know, we’re coming up on the 20th anniversary of the station in November.
Host: Right.
Nick Hague: You know, so we’re talking about this station having, you know, that’s two decades of work. Let’s keep that going.
Host: Right.
Nick Hague: And this is just a means to help do that.
Host: Yeah. To enable access to it. Right.
Nick Hague: Absolutely.
Host: I did want to kind of circle back because you’re– you were selected in the 2013 class and now you’re the first astronaut assigned, the first to go up. Can you tell me about the training that you guys have done together as a class and are you ready? Are you ready for this task?
Nick Hague: Yeah. So, the first two years of training following getting selected back in 2013, the astronaut candidate training was just awesome. It’s your first– it’s your first chance to dip your toe into this is what spaceflight is going to be like. The first time– it’s so many firsts. It’s the first time that you try to work a robotic arm and you’re mentally contorting yourself so that you can see, you know, three dimensions upside down and work things backwards and make it work. It’s the first time you get to try on a space suit. And go under the water in the neutral buoyancy lab and go, OK, this is what a spaceflight– spacewalk is going to be like or this is as close that I’m going to feel. It’s the first time I got to feel, you know, zero G. We went on, you know, the vomit comet–
Host: Oh, that’s right, yeah.
Nick Hague: And we did a trip together. So, you share those and you come in with, you know, in my case seven other people that hadn’t had those experiences either and so we’re experiencing them all together for the first time. And so that’s a– that’s an awesome bonding experience. You know, that shared experience that we have and all those firsts really draws you together as a class.
Host: Yeah.
Nick Hague: So, that was just– those two years were pretty awesome.
Host: And then you had a lot of training after that and now it’s time to fly.
Nick Hague: Yeah. Training hasn’t stopped since I walked in the door.
Host: Well, you know, going back to that theme of there’s a lot that you have to know and do and there’s a lot of different things too because– commercial crew, right, that’s going to happen during your stay up there and that’s new. That’s going to be a new thing for the station.
Nick Hague: Well, we’re doing new stuff every mission.
Host: Yeah.
Nick Hague: So, you know, and there’s focus on the commercial crew because that is a big thing, but there are new experiments going up all the time. There’s new science being performed. There’s new capabilities and new tech demos that we’re doing. It’s, you know, research, it may seem like we’re doing the same thing over and over there to the person sitting on the sidelines and not paying close attention, but we’re doing new, different, groundbreaking research on the station every day and we have been for almost two decades.
Host: I want to go back to– because now you’re assigned– now you’re about to fly. I want to go back to the time where you got the call that you were selected to be an astronaut. Do you remember that time?
Nick Hague: I do. It’s funny you mention it, because I was actually on my way to have lunch with Catie.
Host: Really? And that’s where– it was lunch with Catie that you got the call?
Nick Hague: Yeah, I mean it was lunch with Catie. So, I was working–
Catie Hague: Which is rare.
Nick Hague: Yes, but it was a day she was in the Pentagon in her office and I was in an office in Crystal City, just south of the Pentagon, and I was getting on the elevator. I had just walked out of the office. We weren’t allowed to have cell phones in there and so I was checking my cell phone and I saw I had a message from NASA and so immediately the heart starts beating through the chest going, OK, well, we find out if this is it or not. So, side note, that was less of a reaction or maybe– it might have been more of a reaction. I had had the call before and gotten the bad call a few years earlier.
Host: Oh, OK.
Nick Hague: So, I listened to the voicemail and so as soon as I checked the, you know, the voicemail, I kind of knew what was going to happen because the last time I got a call, it was from somebody on the board and they said, hey, you know, you didn’t make it this time. This time I got a phone call from the person running the selection panel, Janet Kavandi, and so at that point I knew, OK, this is the person that sends the good calls. So, when I was finally speaking to her, you know, the heart had stopped racing a little bit, but it was checking that message that was the– my heart was jumping out of my chest. But as soon as that happened, I immediately did not call Catie. I hopped on– I walked over, met her in the office, we closed the door, and I said guess what. And she was excited and– you may have hit me or something, no, I don’t believe you.
Catie Hague: Yeah, probably.
Nick Hague: Yeah.
Host: Really?
Nick Hague: Yeah.
Host: Just because of going through the experience before, right, now it comes around again and you’re hoping, but, you know, now it’s the real deal. You got it.
Nick Hague: I mean so we– I say we because we submit my applications– so, we submitted the first one in 2003. So, it had been a long process of submitting applications and waiting and getting rejected and submitting again, but that’s just kind of how it goes.
Host: It’s all worth it. You’re right about to fly. I want to end with one more question and since Catie is here, you know, what is– how are you guys preparing the family for this journey?
Catie Hague: We’re watching a lot of Star Wars.
Host: Look what daddy’s going to do, right?
Catie Hague: Probably going to go see the new movie soon.
Host: OK.
Nick Hague: That’s probably it. You know, it’s trying to make it more familiar. Because, you know, the boys are young and trying to make it less scary and more exciting and I think the way to do that is just make it more familiar. So, we’ve watched some of the recent launches on NASA TV and they’ve had the opportunity to come over to Star City and visit so they could see where I was training and they can see, hey, this is the capsule that dad’s going to sit in and I take pictures and send them back and show them everything that’s going on. So, hopefully they’ve got an appreciation of what’s going to happen and then they can just be super excited when they feel the roar of the engines and watch me streak off into space.
Host: I have no doubt that they will.
Catie Hague: We are– we’re also trying to make it not scary. So, we’re talking a lot about how the system works and what the different stages are and what they’re going to see and just kind of trying to explain to them that, yeah, this is a dangerous process, but this is how safe it is and kind of explaining that to them. So, they’re kind of engineer minds. They like to know how things work, so as soon as they understand how the stuff works, they seem to be a little more confident and OK with the situation. Plus we just built the–
Nick Hague: The Saturn V.
Catie Hague: The Saturn V out of LEGOs.
Nick Hague: So, we built it out of LEGOs and then we talked about all the systems and they’re like oh, OK, now we get it.
Host: Oh, yeah, putting it together. That’s great. All right. Well, I’m very excited for your mission, Nick. Thank you so much for joining me and, Catie, thank you for stopping by.
Catie Hague: Absolutely.
Nick Hague: Thanks.
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Host: Hey, thanks for sticking around. So, today we talked with Colonel Nick Hague about his expectations before his flight and his journey to actually become an astronaut. And, of course, thank you for Catie Hague for stopping by. So, you’ll be able to follow Nick on his journey to the International Space Station. He’s going to be on Twitter, @AstroHague. You can also go to the International Space Station accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and we’ll be sharing his story there. If you have a question for Nick or maybe a question for us and you’d like to submit an idea or a suggestion for the podcast, we’re using the #AskNASA. Just make sure to mention it’s for Houston, We Have a Podcast and we’ll bring it on a future episode. This episode was recorded on June 29th, 2018. Thanks to Alex Perryman, John Stoll, Pat Ryan, Bill Stafford, John Streeter, Brandi Dean, Kelly Humphries, and Sandra Jones. Thanks again to Nick and Catie Hague for coming on the show. We’ll be back next week.