San Diego's Newly Minted Astronaut

A San Diego woman is blazing trails right out of this world. Veronica Carter and Bret Burkhart spoke with Marine test pilot Katherine Spies who is one of 10 new NASA astronauts.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The ODO dot Com traffic center.

Speaker 2 (00:01):
ODO dot Com the only business softwik NASA has introduced
this next class of astronauts, and one of them called
San Diego Home. Catherine SPI's is one of ten newly
minted NASA astronauts becoming the next generation of American explorers.

Speaker 1 (00:15):
She's undergoing extensive training to perform a whole bunch of
complex skills on the International Space Station Artemis missions to
the Moon and beyond. And we recently had a chance
to congratulate her on becoming one out of eight thousand
candidates to become the next American astronaut.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
How did you get to this point? You grew up
in San Diego whereabouts?

Speaker 3 (00:35):
So I grew up well, I was grown up in
Orange County and then kind of grew up in the Southland,
and my family, my parents moved to San Diego full
time essentially when I was heading to college. But it's
now where I always go back to and where my
my mom lives and my sister lives, and so I
really think of it kind of as a home base.
But I didn't go to high school there, So my

(00:56):
sister or she went to Point Liwa High School and
my and my family lives up at Point Lowe, where.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
You always interested in aviation. How did you get into
a career that involves flying out of this world?

Speaker 1 (01:08):
Yeah? You will.

Speaker 3 (01:09):
You know, Southern California has just an incredibly rich aerospace history,
and so I was very lucky as a young kid
to go to the air shows at Miramar, which are
just absolutely incredible, and then up in Tustin as well,
and then getting to see you. Back during the Shuttle era,
the shuttles used to oftentimes launch from the East Coast

(01:30):
but land up at Edward's Air Force Base, and I
had a handful of opportunities to see the shuttle land
up there, and as you see it come back in,
you just kind of wonder what it might take for
you to one day have that opportunity. And I think
it just set a spark. And it's so fun to
think of everyone watching the Artemis crew over the next
set of weeks, because it's probably also doing that same

(01:52):
amount of inspiration for a new set of scientists and
astronauts that in thirty years will be where I'm at.

Speaker 2 (02:00):
And then you talk about this next generation and now
that you're at this part of your journey and your career.
What it must feel like to be chosen to be
the next astronaut.

Speaker 3 (02:10):
Yeah, it's incredible. I think, you know, you take so
much time to get here, and it's you know, education
and education and flight training and flight training and test
piloting and test piloting and working and building up a
massive skill set and the things that you're passionate about
all to hopefully be able to bring those to work.

(02:31):
In human space flight. There's not you know, a perfect
trajectory to go from A to C, and so it's
you know, where are the places that you have the
most fun and are able to dive in and have
the most impact, and then can those potentially translate to
work here at NASA. And what's incredible is there's just
people from every skill set and background and so even

(02:53):
in my class, there's doctors and scientists and geologists and
other test pilots and helicopter pilots, jet pilots, and so
it's really fun to see that NASA values what a
team can do. And that's I think one of the
most incredible pieces about being here. And you see that
too with the crews that are getting ready to go up.

(03:13):
Just what teamwork means you can see it in the hallways.
And I think that's the other kind of intangible skill
set that you build over time to be able to
be a valuable member here at NASA and at Johnson
Space Center.

Speaker 2 (03:25):
It's teamwork. It's all about the team that is able
to get you up into that space, so to speak,
but also safely. How excited are you and what do
you hope to share with people who may try and
aspire to be an astrolant like yourself.

Speaker 3 (03:43):
It's a great question. I think, you know, it's curiosity
just in the world, and I think we see that
in young kids all the time, and it's so how
do you maintain that where you're continuing to ask questions
about how things work or why things work, and wanting
to further discover your own world and then potentially beyond

(04:04):
this world. And that discovery and that exploitaion is that
the heart of what NASA does, and so that can
look different for everybody, and I think that's a beautiful
thing about NASA and this work. And this was the
third time that I applied and to the astronaut and
on this third time I almost didn't, and then I

(04:26):
just thought, you know, why not and I think there's
a second piece there around when you're going after a goal,
there's such a requirement to keep going when you aren't
really sure if you can, but it's like worth trying again,
It's worth putting your one foot in front of another
in front of the other again and continuing to go
after it. And I think you put those two things together,

(04:47):
and that's I think translates for so many people across
so many different aspects of life, is of like, how
do you go after your goals and what it means
to you and to be curious and excited about doing such.

Speaker 2 (04:59):
How are your nerves?

Speaker 3 (05:01):
You know? I think good. You just want to show
up and do your absolute best. It was the same
way during the interview process, and so it feels consequential
because you care so much. But I love caring. I
love being on a team where other people care a lot,
and so it's a real honor and it's just incredible
to bring your best energy, your best work, and your

(05:22):
best spirit to the project every day and to be
around other people doing the same thing. It's a great
place to be in, a great place to do that.
And I love to care, so it's not so bad
on the nerves because it's exciting and it's fun.

Speaker 2 (05:36):
Well, thank you for representing San Diego amazing.

Speaker 1 (05:39):
Thanks so much, Fret that is San Diego Zon. Catherine
SPIE's an attack helicopter pilot and Marine Corps test pilot.
Now the latest NASA astronaut