“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.
Episode 23 features Scott Tingle, NASA Astronaut, who talks about his education in mechanical engineering, his time in the Navy as a test pilot, and his astronaut training before his first mission to the International Space Station in December. This episode was recorded on September 25, 2017.
Transcript
Gary Jordan (Host): “Houston We Have a Podcast.” Welcome to the official podcast for the NASA Johnson Space Center, episode 23, Test Pilot to Astronaut. I’m Gary Jordan and I will be your host today. So, if you’re new the show, this is where we bring in NASA experts, NASA scientists, engineers, astronauts, all to tell you the coolest parts about NASA. So, today we’re talking with Scott Tingle. He’s a U.S. Astronaut and he’s about to launch to the International Space Station in a few days on December 17, 2017 for the very first time. We talked about his education going for mechanical engineering, his time in the navy as a test pilot, his astronaut training, and his expectations for his first flight. So, with no further delay, let’s go light speed and jump right ahead to our talk with captain Scott Tingle. Enjoy.
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[ Podcast Intro Music ]
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Host: All right, well Maker, thank you so much for coming on the show today. I know this is coming so close to your launch date already, do you have, what your plans, I mean from now on, are you going to be traveling a lot? Do you have some training coming up?
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Scott Tingle: Well, this is my last trip back to Johnson Space Center.
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Host: Oh wow.
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Scott Tingle: I’m here for five weeks, which sounds like it’s a nice long time, relaxing. No, we’ll have none of that. We’ve got a lot of training. We’re going to finish up, we’ve got integrated simulators with the full crew compliment they’re coming in from Russia.
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Host: Wow.
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Scott Tingle: And Japan to do these simulators. I’m finishing up with some evaluations and the EVA community. And then doing a lot of payloads training and getting, getting all my rust knocked off my fingertips so that I can be good when I get back up on station. And then the last week that I’m here, I’ll be really focusing on the family and trying to make sure the roof’s not going to leak in the next hurricane.
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Host: Yeah.
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Scott Tingle: And make sure the bills are paid, make sure things are set up, the cars are running right, they’re all registered. And all the little details it takes to run a family. So, everything that’s going to happen in the next six months I have to look forward in my crystal ball and either take care of it, or have the, have a plan to attack it when it comes up for that. And then on October 27th I leave a one-way ticket to Moscow. And we begin final exams in Soyuz.
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Host: Are you staying there up until your launch?
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Scott Tingle: We’ll stay are Star City until about 15 to 17 days prior to launch. And we spend about two weeks in Baikonur.
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Host: Oh okay.
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Scott Tingle: Which in Kazakhstan and so and we’ll have training there and we’ll start getting on the whatever sleep cycle we have to get on. And we’ll use that as a little bit of relaxation. But yeah, the family will join us out there about three days before the launch.
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Host: Cool.
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Scott Tingle: And we’ll, I’ll see them from quarantine, you know, from the other side of the glass.
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Host: Yeah.
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Scott Tingle: And then we’ll get ready to go. And then December 17th will be the actual launch.
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Host: Yes.
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Scott Tingle: And off to space station we go.
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Host: Very cool. Hey that will be my first trip to Russia actually is for, is for that launch.
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Scott Tingle: Oh that’s awesome.
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Host: Yeah, I think I’ll be media escort for Nemo Kanai.
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Scott Tingle: Oh excellent.
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Host: Yeah, so some of the public affairs folks that are going over there, I’ll be escorting as a media.
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Scott Tingle: That’s good. I’m sure I’ll see you there. Make sure you waving hi.
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Host: I will.
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Scott Tingle: And maybe we can get some time off the, off the side to enjoy a beer.
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Host: Hey, I hope so. That would be fantastic. But I a mean a lot of your stuff in Russia, though, is are you going to be doing some Soyuz training over there?
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Scott Tingle: Absolutely.
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Host: Oh yeah.
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Scott Tingle: Yeah, yeah, we’ll go through and we’ll do some refresher type training on the Russian segment. We’ll do some refresher training and final exam for emergencies and daily ops on the Russian segment. Ad then the big push we’ll have several simulators for Kanai, myself, and our commander Shapirov in the Soyuz. And those by far will take the most time for us to prepare for and they’ll be the hardest simulators to get through the Soyuz.
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Host: Yeah. Well I was, we did a podcast a while ago actually now with Randy Bresnik talking about that stuff.
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Scott Tingle: Right.
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Host: And then his final training. Especially with Joe Acaba, too, because he had the accelerated program.
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Scott Tingle: That’s right.
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Host: Where he had to jam it all in within six months before his, before his trip up.
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Scott Tingle: That’s right.
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Host: Yeah, they all talk about the difficulties of that.
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Scott Tingle: Yeah.
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Host: And Russian language too. How is, how’s Russian language training for you?
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Scott Tingle: Well, Russian language training has been a challenge. They always say it’s the first ten years that are the hardest.
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Host: Yeah.
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Scott Tingle: So, I’ve only had seven or eight years of it, so I’m not quite over the hump yet.
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Host: Still quite a bit.
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Scott Tingle: Yeah, it is. And I can survive but, you know, when things get really busy and they start talking really fast, you know, I got to get them to slow down. I can’t, I can’t, it’s very hard to keep up. I can pick up some keywords and I can kind of sense kind of that somethings not right and we’ve got to be doing something, but the details, the devil’s in the details with this, in this business.
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Host: Oh yeah.
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Scott Tingle: So you’ve got to. It really exercises my patience and my trust, in which I have 100% trust in my crew and my Russian compadres over there. That includes all the ground crew, all the engineers, all the management, all of the my other cosmonaut, colleagues. I really do trust them. And they trust me. So, it kind of fills in some of the gaps that we see in the language.
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Host: Hey, trust is key.
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Scott Tingle: Absolutely.
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Host: I myself minored in Spanish and that’s supposed to be one of the easier ones to go from English to Spanish. And honestly, if I don’t practice, which I don’t. I lost almost all of it.
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Scott Tingle: Right.
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Host: So it just takes tons of practices. And especially with Russian.
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Scott Tingle: Absolutely.
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Host: Russian is one of those harder ones to go from English to Russian especially because it uses a whole new alphabet.
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Scott Tingle: Yeah.
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Host: So, I’m sure they expose it to you quite a bit too. How often do you get refresher training?
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Scott Tingle: Well, when I was here, I was getting four hours a week.
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Host: There you go.
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Scott Tingle: This was after I was assigned. And there in Star City with a native Russian, Russian teacher, I was getting four hours a week as well.
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Host: Wow.
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Scott Tingle: But now that we’re in the final throws and getting ready for launch, we’re really focusing on the simulators. You know it’s kind of funny because you know I can be at a party and I kind of have a small conversation with my Russian colleagues. And you know, we’ll laugh, and we can tell jokes and sometimes I need some help. It’s like, wait a minute I didn’t quite get that one. But once we get into the simulator, assuming everything’s kind of going as planned, the language just happens. Right, because we train so much to it, we know the keywords. We’ve been through the checklist 100 times. We kind of know what each other’s thinking.
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Host: Yeah.
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Scott Tingle: And we can operate off of keywords together. And so, it becomes a subset of the vocabulary. But when things start going off nominal, which they do all the time in the simulator.
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Host: Sure.
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Scott Tingle: We really have to slow down and make sure we’re communicating.
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Host: Yeah. And I’m sure, because you do so many runs in the Soyuz it’s almost like, you know, could you do Soyuz operations in the English language, or have you done it so much in the Russian language that that’s just what you’re used to now?
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Scott Tingle: Well, you know, to me it’s about, that’s probably say probably would have to be in Russian because everything’s in Russian.
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Host: Yeah.
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Scott Tingle: The buttons are in Russian, the menus are in Russian, the switches are in Russian, everything’s in Russian. But I, you know, I have not transitioned to thinking like a Russian yet. I’m working very hard on it, and I’m getting closer and closer, but I still when they say you know, [speaks foreign language]. I think “Turn on the switch.” And then I turn on the switch. Yes.
Host:Oh, yeah, yeah you have to translate.
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Scott Tingle: Where as, yeah, where as ideally, I would just hear it and go boom. You know, and I’m almost there, and maybe on this next trip I’ll take a big huge stride forward.
Host:Have you dreamed in Russian yet?
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Scott Tingle: Yeah, they always say that. You know what, I don’t remember any dreams in Russian.
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Host:Ah okay.
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Scott Tingle: You know, my brain is just not wired for.
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Host:I think I had one dream in Spanish when I was taking the class. I had to take an interpretation class for one semester. And that was, you know, someone reads to you in English and you have to translate either simultaneous or consecutive Spanish vice versa too, from Spanish to English.
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Scott Tingle: Yeah.
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Host:And when I was taking that class I was just exposed to it so much that I started dreaming in Spanish and I really wish I stuck with it because that was, I’ve honestly lost a lot of it so far just not taking it.
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Scott Tingle: Yeah, and I always think, you know, sometimes it’s definitely been some of the most challenging and frustrating parts of the training. But, and so on the bad days I’m like God, I don’t know how to do this anymore.
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Host:Yeah.
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Scott Tingle: This language is killing me. But, on the medium to okay days, I come back thinking you know, I’ve put a lot of time into this and I’m making progress. As slow as it is, I’m making progress. I need to keep going with it. Even if I never fly in space with a cosmonauts again because it’s another language, there’s tons of things going on all the time between the united states and Russia, and having this skill is one of the benefits of being in this community. And, I’ve, the people over in Russia are like a second family to me.
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Host:Yeah. Especially because you spend so much time there.
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Scott Tingle: So, you know, I want to maintain communications.
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Host:Right.
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Scott Tingle: And I want to continue that process.
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Host:Absolutely. Yeah, it is an international space station, right. We’ve got to work all together
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Scott Tingle: Absolutely.
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Host:You’re right it is a family. We’re all going towards the same goal.
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Scott Tingle: Absolutely.
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Host:So that’s pretty cool. Well, Maker, you know, besides all your training, I really just kind of wanted to go through your story and if you don’t mind we could start with growing up in Massachusetts. That’s kind of your home, right? Did you move a lot or just kind of stick around Massachusetts?
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Scott Tingle: I was pretty much Massachusetts. I was born in Edinboro, Massachusetts.
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Host:Okay.
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Scott Tingle: I spent some time in Bangor, Maine. And then we went down to Randolph, Massachusetts when I was I think in fourth grade.
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Host:Okay.
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Scott Tingle: And so from fourth grade to the time I left to go to Purdue university, I was in Massachusetts.
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Host:Oh, okay, yeah, because you went to next was vo-tech school high school, right.
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Scott Tingle: Yep.
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Host:It was right before you went to college.
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Scott Tingle: I did, yeah.
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Host:So, what got you there?
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Scott Tingle: Well, you know, I had a choice. I was in a community that was participating in the local vocational regional high school.
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Host:Oh, okay.
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Scott Tingle: Blue Hills Regional. Or I could go to the town of Randolph High School for that. And the high school was at the time was a good high school and it had a lot of your standard academic things, and you know, people that went to college went to there.
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Host:Yeah.
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Scott Tingle: All this stuff. But the vocational school drugs were starting to get on the rise, and things like that. But, so the vocational school at that point was kind of had me interested right from the get go. I was really good with my hands. I like, you know, motorcycles and cars, and you know, things that fly.
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Host:Yeah.
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Scott Tingle: And all this other stuff. And, and they had a really good design program, for machine drafting. And so, I went there, and I got to experience. They had a great program. You go up to the, you start at the high school and you start in a shop. And I was in metal fabrication. And then I went to machine worker class, shop. And then towards the end of the year I went up to my choice, which was machine drafting.
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Host:Okay.
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Scott Tingle: And so by the time I got done with my sophomore year, I had experienced so many hands-on types of types of things.
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Host:Right.
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Scott Tingle: That would only help me as an engineer or as an operator of some machine like an airplane.
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Host:Yeah.
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Scott Tingle: A small, fast airplane. With weapons.
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Host:Which, yeah.
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Scott Tingle: With weapons.
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Host:There you go. Which is eventually what you go into. But, you know, I talked with Joe Acaba before he launched, and he had a similar thing. And he didn’t go to a vo-tech school, but he did have a welding class. And he had a teacher that really inspired him to pursue more of a science-technology, a STEM career.
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Scott Tingle: Right.
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Host:And maybe it was because it was hands-on. Maybe it was because of trust. Were the educators kind of influential to you, the teachers that were — ?
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Scott Tingle: They were influential from the standpoint of, if you want to do it, then do it. Go try it. Don’t worry about failing, just do it, and we’ll work it from there. They were very inspirational from that standpoint. At that timeframe, we did not have a lot of folks coming from this, this high school going to college. And I didn’t think about that when I decided to go there.
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Host:Really?
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Scott Tingle: I just went there I thought they had a really good program.
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Host:Yeah.
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Scott Tingle: And, it turns out to be one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. By the time I was in eleventh grade, I was already working part-time as a machine draftsman. And then on my senior year, because I had excelled on a lot of the, the program requirements, instead of going to school on my shop weeks, I would go to work.
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Host:Oh.
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Scott Tingle: And so that, I saved up enough money to get me through my first year of college. And so, I never would have gone to college had I not had that opportunity.
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Host:How about that?
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Scott Tingle: Yeah.
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Host:Well, what was it someone or some event that inspired you? That says you know what yeah, I want to take that next step and go to college?
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Scott Tingle: Well, you know, I decided very early that I really wanted to be an astronaut.
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Host:Hey, all right.
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Scott Tingle: And I mean very young. Before junior high school, before you know, before I was in school. And, and I was looking for ways to do that. And I knew that becoming an engineer would be a good thing because the next step is I want to be a pilot. And then after a pilot I want to be a test pilot. And then after a test pilot I want to try to be an astronaut. And so, to me, that was the path. And when I looked at it, I was like, okay do I like doing all of these things? And if I never get any higher than engineer, is that good enough? Absolutely yes, I would enjoy that. That would be great, and so that’s how I kind of worked stepping through those goals. And the vocational background just made that. You know having an engineer that actually has been down and bent metal, and drilled holes and put things together and seeing how it doesn’t work and how it could work.
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Host:Yeah.
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Scott Tingle: Huge benefit to any design team.
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Host:Did it help you visualize it?
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Scott Tingle: Absolutely.
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Host:Yeah.
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Scott Tingle: Absolutely, and when somebody comes up from the shop and says “Hey, I can’t get these things to work.” You know, I go okay let’s go look at the drawings. It’s like oh okay. The tolerances are too tight. It’s not realistic. You know, we don’t have the control processes on the floor to actually make these tolerances work so we have to widen them up. Just having that knowledge and having that trust that when somebody from the floor comes up and says “Hey, why don’t you design it like this, we really need it like this.” To listen to them.
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Host:Yeah.
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Scott Tingle: You know.
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Host:Because it gave you perspective.
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Scott Tingle: Absolutely.
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Host:It gave you perspective on both ends.
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Scott Tingle: Absolutely.
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Host:The design, you know, looking at paper. But then also
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Scott Tingle: Absolutely.
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Host:Looking at, you know, thinking about the machines [inaudible].
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Scott Tingle: Absolutely.
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Host:So, why mechanical?
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Scott Tingle: Well, the college I went to only had mechanical.
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Host:Mechanical engineering, yeah.
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Scott Tingle: At the time.
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Scott Tingle: And so, so I went, decided to do that but I, tried to specialize and take as many courses as I could in the thermal sciences. Because I had a big interest in thermodynamics and airplanes.
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Host:Yeah.
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Scott Tingle: And gas dynamics, and fluid mechanics, and heat transfer is all what makes airplanes fly.
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Host:Oh absolutely.
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Scott Tingle: So, I did all of that. And by the way in Blue Hills Regional right now has a great program, engineering program now. It’s pre-engineering and they send a lot of people to college now.
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Host:Oh wow.
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Scott Tingle: So they’ve transitioned, they’ve got a great equation going for — .
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Host:How about that?
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Scott Tingle: For their students. Yeah, I couldn’t be more proud of them.
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Host:Well, I mean you, you kind of set the bar here when you were talking about your plan. I’m going to take all these steps to get to astronaut and then.
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Scott Tingle: Yeah.
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Host:The last two were test pilot, astronaut.
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Scott Tingle: Yeah.
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Host:Looking at your bio here, you followed it exactly.
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Scott Tingle: I did. Yeah
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Host:And, was that really part of the plan, that early? Like you knew that test pilot, astronaut was the last two steps from that early?
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Scott Tingle: I did.
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Host:Wow.
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Scott Tingle: Yeah. I didn’t expect, we’re jumping ahead here a little bit here.
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Host:Sure.
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Scott Tingle: I at each step I really liked what I was doing. It was not easy to make the decision to stop being an engineer and go fly airplanes.
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Host:Yeah.
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Scott Tingle: For the Navy. And it was not easy to leave the operational community and go be a test pilot. It was not easy to say, hey thank you you’ve just offered me command of the Navy’s biggest test squadron, but I’m going to go be an astronaut. It was not easy.
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Host:Wow.
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Scott Tingle: You know.
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Host:Yeah.
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Scott Tingle: But I had to stay true to my plan, and you know, if it wasn’t hard, anybody would be doing it.
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Host:Yeah, that’s true. Because when you’re thinking about it, you know, you think okay I’ll just take that next step. But you’re right, when you’re in the moment, it’s difficult. Especially when you enjoy your job which is– .
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Scott Tingle: Absolutely
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Host:You know, they tell you, if you enjoy your job, that’s, you’re basically not working at that point because that’s’ the best part.
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Scott Tingle: Absolutely. Yeah and the people involved in each one of those jobs, incredible. Incredible.
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Host:Yeah.
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Scott Tingle: People. Talented, motivated, dedicated, full of support. They all, you know, became good friends and colleagues. You know, they’re my ex-bosses, ex-people that worked for me just friends in general. And I tell you what, when the cans light underneath me on December 17th, I’m going to be thinking of every one of those folks, and they’re going to be coming with me to the space station.
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Host:That’s true. I mean, you’re right, we are kind of jumping around a little bit. But kind of off that point, you know, you have to, you kind of work your way up. You worked, I think you were an engineer for a little bit then you were a pilot. But you’re working with people in different scenarios.
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Scott Tingle: Absolutely.
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Host:They were both your coworkers, but then also you said you were a leader at some points, and somehow you had to manage. You know, what did you learn along the way and how to work with others, and then eventually manage others?
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Scott Tingle: Yeah. So, my first real leadership job was, I had just gotten into the Navy I finished flight training and I joined my squadron. And I had been previously enlisted because I had to pay my way through college and I needed a job. And I was an ordnanceman E-3, E-4 type person. And so, I had a lot of experience on the floor, a lot of experience as a mechanic, and you know, working with ordinance and putting things on airplanes and cleaning toilets, and mopping floors and things like that. And when I got into this job, I had a lot of instant credibility because I had gone through that process. I had been them, you know, for six to eight years. And so, I was able to see dynamics in the community that I was in, and I was able to address problems before they became huge problems. I was able to achieve goals. I was able to stop people from doing silly things, you know, and help their families. And it was really inspiring to have that much impact on the people around you, positive impact.
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Host:Wow.
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Scott Tingle: And once, when I experienced that, you know, my life really started changing towards the teamwork, team-building relationships, leadership type things. It’s really the core of everything we do.
[00:18:45]
Host:Even now, right?
[00:18:46]
Scott Tingle: Even now.
[00:18:46]
Host:You’re seeing it now in astronaut training.
[00:18:48]
Scott Tingle: Absolutely
[00:18:48]
Host:it’s not just an astronaut. There’s a lot of people behind you, right?
[00:18:51]
Scott Tingle: Absolutely. Thousands, and thousands of people.
[00:18:53]
Host:Yeah, and they’re all helping you to achieve the goals.
[00:18:56]
Scott Tingle: Yep.
[00:18:56]
Host:And running their own things too.
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Scott Tingle: Yeah, thousands of people in 16 different countries.
[00:19:01]
Host:That’s right. In terms of collaboration, this is pretty big. You’re talking about global collaboration.
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Scott Tingle: Yeah, absolutely.
[00:19:08]
Host:And you know, I’m sorry for jumping around for those who are listening because we’re all over the place. But we’ll go back to your school. You know, you went to get your mechanical engineering. Is it Southeastern Massachusetts University?
[00:19:21]
Scott Tingle: That’s where I graduated from.
[00:19:22]
Host:Okay.
[00:19:22]
Scott Tingle: But they’ve recently changed names.
[00:19:24]
Host:Oh.
[00:19:24]
Scott Tingle: They’re now University of Massachusetts in North Dartmouth.
[00:19:26]
Host:Oh, there you go. OH okay, in North Dartmouth. Okay, cool. But then you eventually pursued a Master’s and I’m guessing that was part of your plan too.
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Scott Tingle: Yes, and that was the Purdue University.
[00:19:33]
Host:Purdue University, cool. Did you, it says you, you were focusing mainly on fluid dynamics, or fluid mechanics and propulsion.
[00:19:41]
Scott Tingle: Yeah.
[00:19:41]
Host:What made you pursue that over other specialties?
[00:19:44]
Scott Tingle: Airplanes.
[00:19:44]
Host:There you go. Part of the plan, right?
[00:19:48]
Scott Tingle: Absolutely.
[00:19:49]
Host:Wow. So, what is it that, about propulsions that really kind of, you know, that really enjoyed?
[00:19:56]
Scott Tingle: Well — .
[00:19:56]
Host:Because eventually you, worked for Aerospace Corporation and you were the propulsion department, right?
[00:20:01]
Scott Tingle: I was. Yeah. I liked rockets.
[00:20:03]
Host:Yeah.
[00:20:04]
Scott Tingle: You know, and big turbine engines, big powerful turbine engines.
[00:20:07]
Host:Yeah.
[00:20:08]
Scott Tingle: Jet fighters. There’s a lot of heat, and there’s a lot of science and theory that goes into how they run, how they work. And it’s just, it just drew my interest.
[00:20:18]
Host:Absolutely. So what do you do for Aerospace Corporation?
[00:20:20]
Scott Tingle: I worked in their, in their propulsion department. I started off working, working shuttle solid motors.
[00:20:28]
Host:Oh, hey.
[00:20:28]
Scott Tingle: A little bit there. And for those that don’t know. The Aerospace Corporation is federal, it used to be called Federally Contracted Resource Corporation. They’ve got a different name for it now. It’s like RAND, it’s like a think tank.
[00:20:38]
Host:Okay.
[00:20:38]
Scott Tingle: And there, there’s positioned right next to Airforce Space Systems Command in El Segundo, California.
[00:20:43]
Host:Okay.
[00:20:44]
Scott Tingle: And they’re really in charge of just kind of looking over the whole program. The details of the designs. Looking at the readiness of the vehicles. And offering their just thousands and thousands of years of experience on helping out the community. And then overlooking for the government the program and making sure things are ready.
[00:21:05]
Host:Yeah.
[00:21:06]
Scott Tingle: To blast off.
[00:21:08]
Host:Wow. So, doing the science and the engineering of the propulsion aspect. Was your next step applying for the Navy to be a pilot?
[00:21:16]
Scott Tingle: Yes.
[00:21:16]
Host:Okay, so did you have any flight experience before you did that?
[00:21:19]
Scott Tingle: I did. I had a few hundred hours.
[00:21:20]
Host:Okay.
[00:21:21]
Scott Tingle: When I was younger at, in my undergraduate at University of Massachusetts.
[00:21:26]
Host:Oh okay.
[00:21:26]
Scott Tingle: I had joined, enlisted in the Navy.
[00:21:29]
Host:Oh, so this is back in college you were already, okay.
[00:21:31]
Scott Tingle: Yeah. I did. I was 18. I enlisted. And I spent a couple summers at various boot camps. And, getting educated on how to load bombs on airplanes and things like that.
[00:21:41]
Host:Yeah.
[00:21:41]
Scott Tingle: And, but once of the benefits was you get the GI Bill and flight training qualified. So, I used some of my benefits to go get my private pilot’s license, which I did. It took me three or four years. I was very slow, but I did it. And — .
[00:21:55]
Host:During college?
[00:21:56]
Scott Tingle: During college.
[00:21:57]
Host:During college.
[00:21:58]
Scott Tingle: And I got it. And my first flight was I took my mom flying up to New Hampshire.
[00:22:01]
Host:Hey, cool.
[00:22:02]
Scott Tingle: Yeah, that was cool.
[00:22:04]
Host:Yeah.
[00:22:04]
Scott Tingle: That was a fun day.
[00:22:05]
Host:Absolutely
[00:22:06]
Scott Tingle: When I got to California, which has a huge aviation community in southern California, I met a guy who had a Pitts Special, which is very acrobatic, you know, limited to 12 or 13 gs. It will stall before you overstress it.
[00:22:22]
Host:Wow.
[00:22:23]
Scott Tingle: And we used to, I used to take lunch breaks and I used to go flying his Pitts Special right out of Hawthorne. Right where they’re building SpaceX now.
[00:22:31]
Host:Wow.
[00:22:32]
Scott Tingle: Right out of Hawthorne Airport, and we’d fly out over Palos Verdes over the Spruce Goose, and the Queen Mary. And we’d do Lomcovaks, and spins, and rolls, and there used to be a guy that comes out of Santa Monica in it a Burt Rutan very easy. And he would always try to get on my six to try to shoot us. And so, we would just dogfight for a little bit.
[00:22:52]
Host:Wow.
[00:22:52]
Scott Tingle: And I’d always end up shooting him because he’s got the canards and I was fairly smart. I knew that he couldn’t pull forever. It was kind of, he was going to be limited. And so, I’d just bleed him down and then we’d go in for the kill.
[00:23:03]
Host:Wow.
[00:23:03]
Scott Tingle: And then, we’d come back, and we’d land, and I’d go back to work as an engineer.
[00:23:07]
Host:So, on your lunch breaks you were learning how to dogfight. How about that?
[00:23:10]
Scott Tingle: That was fun.
[00:23:11]
Host:I’m guessing you had lunch after you did all those crazy maneuvers, right, not before?
[00:23:16]
Scott Tingle: It depends. But there was, and you know, for those that think that “wow he can just take all these G-forces and it’s no big deal.” I had days where I was not feeling so good.
[00:23:25]
Host:Oh, yeah.
[00:23:25]
Scott Tingle: But I still went.
[00:23:27]
Scott Tingle: I never backed off, I just want you to know that. But the, but afterwards there was, there was a hamburger joint. It was just right on the way, it was like, really, kind of in a bad part of L.A. but it was kind of on East L.A. from between Hawthorne and where I worked. And I always used to stop and get a hamburger. And it was just the greasiest thing you’ve ever seen, but it just made me feel so much better. Yeah. After doing all the whiffer deals.
[00:23:50]
Host:Wow, how about that. How long were you in the air before you actually landed and then eventually got the burger?
[00:23:55]
Scott Tingle: That’s usually about an hour, hour and a half or so.
[00:23:57]
Host:All right, that’s a decent amount of experience too. So, there’s, yeah.
[00:24:00]
Scott Tingle: It was very fun. I was very comfortable flying upside by the time I got into the Navy.
[00:24:04]
Host:So that probably helped you get into the Navy, right?
[00:24:07]
Scott Tingle: You know, I didn’t list that as a qualification, because sometimes they look at that, you can learn bad habits.
[00:24:13]
Host:Oh I see.
[00:24:13]
Scott Tingle: That the military doesn’t want you to have.
[00:24:16]
Host:Oh yeah.
[00:24:16]
Scott Tingle: And some of their worst students are folks that already know how to fly something. So, and I was warned about that, and so I just kept it to myself for a little while.
[00:24:24]
Host:Okay.
[00:24:24]
Scott Tingle: I had a couple of good instructors that they’re like, “Okay, you obviously know how to fly. What’s going on?” You know, and I told them. I was open about it. But, I said it’s really important that you know, that I’m here to learn what you want me to learn.
[00:24:36]
Host:Yeah.
[00:24:36]
Scott Tingle: And there’s 100 ways to peel the onion and I want to know how you want me to peel the onion. And so.
[00:24:42]
Host:Well I think that’s the difference, that — .
[00:24:43]
Scott Tingle: Yeah.
[00:24:44]
Host:You know, you actually went in with that mentality. Not the, “Oh, I know everything mentality.”
[00:24:47]
Scott Tingle: Absolutely.
[00:24:48]
Host:You went in to learn.
[00:24:49]
Scott Tingle: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:24:49]
Host:So, you know, you went in as a Naval officer in ’91 right, and then how long until you actually, you know, a Navy pilot?
[00:24:56]
Scott Tingle: ’92.
[00:24:57]
Host:Oh, how about that. Wow.
[00:24:59]
Scott Tingle: Yeah.
[00:24:59]
Host:That’s pretty quick.
[00:25:00]
Scott Tingle: It went fast. It went fast. And the program I went into, there were no gaps. A lot of folks, you know, if you go ROTC or Academy they’ll give you orders to some other place for a year or two to kill some time. But I went right through.
[00:25:13]
Host:How about that.
[00:25:14]
Scott Tingle: It was fast.
[00:25:15]
Host:So what were some of the first things you were flying.
[00:25:18]
Scott Tingle: Well, I started off in the T-34C, was the Mentor I believe that’s what they call it. And it was a single turbo prop. You know, it was fairly, it was one of the fastest things I’d ever flown at the time, but it was compared to the fighters it was very slow. But it was a nice little trainer. And we landed, we six months and you know, we kind of went through the equivalent of a private pilot’s license.
[00:25:40]
Host:Okay.
[00:25:41]
Scott Tingle: From VFR type flying only. Then we moved into the T-2 Buckeye which I hated flying. It was so huge, my body did not fit in it. I couldn’t reach anything.
[00:25:50]
Host:Wow.
[00:25:50]
Scott Tingle: And I couldn’t see over the canopy, it was just — and I had to bring this thing to the boat. You know, I was like oh my God.
[00:25:56]
Host:Oh.
[00:25:56]
Scott Tingle: It was really hard. But we used that one to actually go through and do some instrument training and some acrobatic training and formation flying. And then we did our first stent day only carrier landings out on the USS America.
[00:26:11]
Host:Wow.
[00:26:11]
Scott Tingle: Yeah, that’s decommissioned now, but I got my first straps on the America. And, and then I graduated from that’s intermediate, and went into advanced jet, which was the A-4.
[00:26:23]
Host:Okay.
[00:26:24]
Scott Tingle: Now the A-4.
[00:26:25]
Host:Little bit faster, right?
[00:26:26]
Scott Tingle: Folks talk about the A-4 and they’re like, “God, I could never fit in that cockpit it was too small and it was just too tight, I couldn’t move my arms.” It was beautiful. One of my favorite airplane.
[00:26:37]
Host:Awesome.
[00:26:38]
Scott Tingle: It’s all mechanical, no electronics or anything. You just start up the engines, the engine, and it either works or it doesn’t. And the flight controls are all rod and tube, and cables. And so, you’re just pushing stuff around, and you’re like yep that’s working. And it had mechanical leading edge slats. So, when you got slow, these things would pop down. And when you went fast they would pop up, all automatic.
[00:27:01]
Host:Oh wow.
[00:27:02]
Scott Tingle: It’s just based off of dynamics, you know, aerodynamics when they you know, just slide up and down on these rails.
[00:27:07]
Host:Wow.
[00:27:08]
Scott Tingle: And the cockpit was so tight. It fits you like a glove. You know, and you could feel every little thing that that jet wanted you to do. And, you know, compared to jets today, the A-4’s slow and bulky and whatever. But the roll rate, God it was, must have been about 320 degrees a second, maybe 300, it was really fast. In fact, the Angels used to fly them, the A-4 a long time ago because it had such a great roll rate.
[00:27:32]
Host:Wow.
[00:27:33]
Scott Tingle: But it’s definitely one of the top two airplanes that I’ve ever flown. I love the, if I could buy an A-4, I would buy an A-4.
[00:27:42]
Host:Well how many, so you said it fit you like a glove, and you know, you’re talking, can how many gs did that get up to?
[00:27:47]
Scott Tingle: You know, I think it was probably limited to probably 5 or so, 4 or 5. It wasn’t a, they were old airplanes. And a lot of the limitations we have are for fatigue life, not what it can really take, so.
[00:27:57]
Host:Oh, okay.
[00:27:57]
Scott Tingle: Yeah, we didn’t really fight those airplanes to max, max performance like that.
[00:28:02]
Host:Okay.
[00:28:02]
Scott Tingle: They were there for training and they worked out good. But we did a lot of form flying. We did a lot of night flying. And we brought that airplane to the ship as well, day only, but.
[00:28:12]
Host:Ah, yeah. Did it have lights or anything or was it just difficult to just fly at night?
[00:28:17]
Scott Tingle: Landing at the ship at night is the scariest thing you’ll ever do.
[00:28:21]
Host:Oh.
[00:28:22]
Scott Tingle: And so, we offload that training to your final airplane with all the bells and whistles, the F-18 is the one I got.
[00:28:31]
Host:Oh okay. And, so, you know, going at night in an A-4, could it be done?
Scott Tingle: Yeah, they used to do it all the time, but it’s high risk.
[00:28:39]
Host:Yeah. Definitely. How about those first couple of times landing on the aircraft carrier? I’m sure that’s a stressful time.
[00:28:45]
Scott Tingle: Yeah, it’s very stressful. And you know, you’re by yourself.
[00:28:47]
Host:Yeah, oh okay.
[00:28:48]
Scott Tingle: You want to talk about somebody giving you the keys and say here don’t hurt yourself, you know, that’s it. So, the T-2 was kind of okay, you know, I was, I did okay. I was never the, you know, the top gun of landing at the ship. When I got the A-4 my first landing was really hard.
[00:29:06]
Host:Oh.
[00:29:07]
Scott Tingle: And to the point where we thought we broke the airplane. And it was a bad grade. And since we only did I think six total landings, to pass I had to really do good on the last five.
[00:29:18]
Host:Oh wow.
[00:29:19]
Scott Tingle: Which I did.
[00:29:20]
Host:Okay.
[00:29:20]
Scott Tingle: I did really good. And I got through on that and a slightly above average or whatever.
[00:29:25]
Host:Cool.
[00:29:25]
Scott Tingle: And so that was fun. And then we got into the F-18 for the final, the final you know, airplane that I was assigned to fly, a bunch of new systems and a whole new way to think about operating off the ship. And it was very exciting. We did our first night landings in the F-18.
[00:29:43]
Host:Oh right, and I’m sure that was a stressful time too.
[00:29:45]
Scott Tingle: It was.
[00:29:46]
Host:Yeah.
[00:29:46]
Scott Tingle: You know, but you know night, you know, in the day time you can see everything.
[00:29:49]
Host:Yeah.
[00:29:49]
Scott Tingle: And the more you can see, the more scared you get. You know, at night time.
[00:29:52]
Host:Oh.
[00:29:52]
Scott Tingle: I can, you know, ignorance is bliss. I can’t see the boat moving. I can’t see anything, I’m just, I’m just doing what I have to do and I’m going to land.
[00:30:00]
Host:Watching your instruments probably?
[00:30:01]
Scott Tingle: Pretty much. We have a scan called meatball lineup angel of attack.
[00:30:05]
Host:Okay.
[00:30:05]
Scott Tingle: We look at the meatball that’s on the ship. We look at the center line. And we have an angle of attack gauge. And then that’s all we look at.
[00:30:13]
Host:So, I mean, how long until you transition from, you know, I’m sure this is all training right, until you were operational?
[00:30:22]
Scott Tingle: Yeah, so, I did my, I joined my first squadron in the end of 1994 and I deployed in 199– the end of 1994.
[00:30:32]
Host:Okay.
[00:30:32]
Scott Tingle: And I spent the holidays of 1995 over in the Far East and Middle East.
[00:30:38]
Host:Okay. Cool. How long from there, what made you go to test pilot school, how did you get there?
[00:30:45]
Scott Tingle: Yeah, so I did, I was in the first squadron for the first set of orders is about three years. And I applied at the two-year mark. Having achieved, you know, the required minimum hours, it was like I can’t remember I think it was like 1000 hours or something. But, and as I was going through it, a lot of folks hey you’re too early, you’ve got to go get more experience. You’ve got to do whatever. And but had such an extensive engineering background I came back selected. And I was the youngest, I wasn’t the youngest, but I was the junior person in my test pilot school class.
[00:31:23]
Host:Wow.
[00:31:24]
Scott Tingle: Yeah.
[00:31:24]
Host:How about that.
[00:31:25]
Scott Tingle: Yeah, yeah. That worked out good.
[00:31:27]
Host:Yeah, that’s fantastic. I mean, thinking about test pilots you said, astronaut was in your mind since you were a kid. And I’m sure that test pilot was definitely the last step before astronaut because of heroes like the Mercury 7 and then those kinds of guys. Is that, that’s why you wanted that path?
[00:31:48]
Scott Tingle: Well, I wanted, that was the thinking.
[00:31:51]
Host:Yeah.
[00:31:51]
Scott Tingle: I always had that goal as the icing on the cake. But being a test pilot, if that was as far as I got, I’m a happy man. It’s a great way to make a living. You know.
[00:32:00]
Host:Yeah.
[00:32:00]
Scott Tingle: You get to work with some great people. You get to do some, some crazy things in airplanes. And you get to make things better for the folks that really need them on the front line.
[00:32:09]
Host:Yeah.
[00:32:09]
Scott Tingle: And so, to me it was just win-win. You know, at that point I was kind of like, well yeah I’d like to be an astronaut, but if it doesn’t work out, this is not a bad job.
[00:32:17]
Host:Well, so for those who don’t know, you know, just what is like the overall what is a test pilot if you had to describe it?
[00:32:24]
Scott Tingle: Yeah. So, you’re connecting engineering to users.
[00:32:27]
Host:Okay.
[00:32:28]
Scott Tingle: Okay, so when Google goes out and creates this new subroutine, or this new platform or something, they don’t just sit there in their box and design it and then sell it. They bring people in from the frontline, you, or beta testers or whatever. And they go, “Hey, this is what we’re thinking. What do you see wrong with it? Do you, can you try this out and give us your comments on it? Hey, what do you think about these design, you know, characteristics?” And then, so they’re connecting the user to engineering. And so, the engineering test pilot does exactly that. You know, we have experience on the front lines, whether flying combat or flying form a ship, or flying whatever vehicle it is. But we also have an extensive engineering background. And so, they train us to be able to connect the dots between the two communities. And actually provide a better product over all to the, to the operators, to the users that have to be effective, but also to the business managers because they don’t want to have to redo this product at the end of the, at the end of the life cycle.
[00:33:28]
Host:Yeah, so you’re doing feedback both ways.
[00:33:30]
Scott Tingle: Absolutely.
[00:33:31]
Host:You say, you know, you’re living, you’re living these designed aircraft, but then you’re also
[00:33:35]
Scott Tingle: Absolutely.
[00:33:35]
Host:Going backwards and saying “Hey, fix this.”
[00:33:37]
Scott Tingle: Absolutely.
[00:33:37]
Host:“This needs to be tweaked there.”
[00:33:38]
Scott Tingle: Absolutely.
[00:33:38]
Host:I’m sure that’s wise. That must have been the thinking of why they selected test pilots for the Mercury 7 is because they were the ones that had this experience. You’re designing brand new space craft.
[00:33:48]
Scott Tingle: Absolutely.
[00:33:48]
Host:And you need that sort of feedback.
[00:33:49]
Scott Tingle: Absolutely. Absolutely.
[00:33:50]
Host:So, you said you were working with, you know, you were working with some great people.
[00:33:55]
Scott Tingle: Yeah.
[00:33:55]
Host:So how was that relationship, you know, with the operational side but then also the engineering side?
[00:33:59]
Scott Tingle: Well, there’s always little things that go back and forth, “Well you’re a test guy, we’re talking tactics. Get out of here.”
[00:34:05]
Host:I’m sure, yeah.
[00:34:05]
Scott Tingle: You know, and they’ll rib you a little bit, but as I got older and more senior, you know, I went to test pilot school in ’96, ’97. And so, here we are you know, 20 years later, with, and I’ve only, I’ve been at NASA for 8 years, so you know, 12 years after test pilot school I was working either as a test pilot or as an operational combat pilot. You know, in the Navy we go back and forth. The Air Force doesn’t quite do it like that, but the Navy goes back and forth. So, you’re always just kind of changing groups and communities and things like that. But, during my second year as a test pilot, I was at the courier suit department. I was actually the lead for the department. And so, anything that went to the ship had to come through us. And we, you know, the new airplanes, new systems, you know, whatever it was, and we’d actually go out and certify the ships as safe for flight on their systems. And we tweaked their systems and make sure they were working just right.
[00:35:00]
Host:Yeah.
[00:35:00]
Scott Tingle: And we’d get calls from folks in Bahrain, you know, they’re in the Persian Gulf and hey, our systems somethings off. You know, we’ve had a couple near misses here can you come out. And we’d get a team together and go out and we’d look at it and fix it.
[00:35:13]
Host:Oh, cool.
[00:35:14]
Scott Tingle: And do what we needed to do. But the, that whole process, you know, you’re working with military folks, you’re working with civil servants, and you’re working with contractors.
[00:35:24]
Host:Yeah.
[00:35:25]
Scott Tingle: And they all had different ideas on what’s better, you know, what the fleet needs, how things should work. And when you get them all together, and if you’re patient, man the team can pick up character and a personality of its own. And the product that comes out is just absolutely amazing. Those folks, they are just great Americans. They are great people. They love their job. And they want to do nothing more than just support the troops 110%.
[00:35:53]
Host:Wow.
[00:35:53]
Scott Tingle: And so, seeing all that come to work and being in the middle of it as a test pilot, somebody that’s connecting all of those folks together really, really rewarding.
[00:36:04]
Host:Absolutely. So how has that translated to working with folks here at NASA. I’m guessing there’s, it’s a similar relationship, right?
[00:36:10]
Scott Tingle: It’s absolutely the same.
[00:36:12]
Host:Yeah.
[00:36:12]
Scott Tingle: And, whether you’re working commercial vehicles, or you’re working Orion, or you’re working International Space Station and current operations, you’ve got people all over the world, 16 to 18 different countries at any given time. And, you’ve got new systems, new experiments, new things coming up. And having that skill of being able to pull a team together and really kind of figure out what’s the right answer here, is just and watching it work is just inspiring.
[00:36:43]
Host:Yeah.
[00:36:43]
Scott Tingle: I look at some of these teams and then the support that they’re doing, they’re in here on the weekends. They’re you know, somethings going wrong on the station they ramp up and they put the put down whatever they’re working on and they go work this project, you know, 24/7 for six or seven days straight. You know, living on coffee and energy drinks. And I tell you what, I come out of some of these meetings and some of these experiences, and I’m just so inspired by these folks. It’s just incredible.
[00:37:07]
Host:Absolutely. I mean, you being an astronaut I’m sure you’ve worked with some veteran astronauts before who have been in space and kind of know the, and so how, I’m guessing, you know, how have they communicated in a very test pilot sort of fashion to others? You know, how does that relationship work with you know, you’ve lived in space, you know how this works. You know, how does that work?
[00:37:27]
Scott Tingle: Yeah, so it’s, that can be a little bit tricky.
[00:37:29]
Host:Okay.
[00:37:30]
Scott Tingle: Because you know, even though folks may have formal training, we’ve got a lot of folks that don’t have formal training. And that’s consistent with civilian commercial operations. Not everybody goes through an engineering curriculum or a test pilot curriculum.
[00:37:44]
Host:Yeah.
[00:37:45]
Scott Tingle: Or, a flight engineer curriculum.
[00:37:47]
Host:Right.
[00:37:47]
Scott Tingle: But it’s really important to include all those people because there’s different perspectives.
[00:37:52]
Host:Yes.
[00:37:52]
Scott Tingle: And, the users are a very diverse group. And that’s really good. The bad part is, is that everybody’s got a different idea sometimes. And getting those ideas together and figuring out the right path forward can be challenging to do that. And, the astronaut office tries very hard to make this happen so that the program doesn’t get a bunch of different perspectives and different directions. They kind of know, and the folks in the community whether you’re in the program or on the operator side or on the flight director side, or on the flight controller side, they all understand the dynamic. And so, they’re all very good. If they need a no kid in, this is the answer. They will come back and go we want a formal memo stating the answer. And so, and then the meetings start, and we figure out what we want to do.
[00:38:44]
Host:Absolutely.
[00:38:45]
Scott Tingle: For that. But it’s a complicated process, but you know, again, if it was easy, you know, we’d be flying to space hundreds of years ago.
[00:38:54]
Host:Yeah, it’s true. Yeah. Now space flight doesn’t really have a reputation of being the easy thing, you know, the easy job to go into. Especially with that much going and that many people involved.
[00:39:04]
Scott Tingle: Right.
[00:39:04]
Host:You know, obviously there’s challenges, but, you know, your background as a test pilot like you said before, when you were a test pilot working with operators and engineers, contractors, everyone, everyone getting together and becoming that team.
[00:39:15]
Scott Tingle: Right.
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Host:You know, that’s you know, that translates pretty.
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Scott Tingle: It’s amazing.
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Host:Pretty directly. You know, so, what were the steps for you to go from test pilot to astronaut? You know, where was that, what came up where you were like now’s the time to apply?
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Scott Tingle: Well, it’s funny you should ask. I think I applied somewhere between four and five times.
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Host:Oh, how about that.
[00:39:39]
Scott Tingle: Yeah. And my first job out of being, out of test pilot school. And I loved test pilot school. It was an applied engineering course that you got to fly airplanes. And I flew 22 airplanes while I was just in test pilot school.
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Host:Wow.
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Scott Tingle: Which was the highest that they had seen in a long time. I was trying to, I was jumping into different airplanes any chance I could.
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Host:Just say yes to everything.
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Scott Tingle: Let’s go. Absolutely.
[00:40:03]
Host:Yeah.
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Scott Tingle: And, so, you know, I put in my first application as when I was working as an operational test pilot at China Lake. And so, we were the first guys, we were the guys to IOC, which means initial operational configuration of the Super Hornet. The F-18 E and F.
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Host:Okay.
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Scott Tingle: And so, I spent two years out there putting that airplane through its operational paces so that the fleet could take it and go operate in the desert where they didn’t go off in boats and things like that. But that wasn’t considered developmental tests. It wasn’t considered a huge test pilot job. Although, that experience I had at VX-9 at China Lake was the most valuable experience I have had that relates to what I’m doing on a day to day basis here at Johnson Space Center.
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Host:Oh wow.
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Scott Tingle: Yeah. It’s just a community cliché kind of thing. You know, if they’re going to hire somebody, they’re going to hire somebody with developmental test experience. And I’m going to, hopefully we can a look at that and maybe open that up a little bit as we move forward into the future here.
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Host:Right.
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Scott Tingle: But, so I had to go back. And I did a leadership tour in the Navy, you know, that lasted five years, six years.
[00:41:21]
Host:Oh.
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Scott Tingle: You know, or so, and then I went to my second test tour. The whole time I was putting in applications every couple of years every time they had it. And it went, went, went, went, went. And then on the last time I was carrier sue department head at Pax River, really liking what I was doing. When I was moving into the program to be an assistant program manager, and I just screened for command, I was going to command VX-23 which is the Navy’s biggest test squadron.
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Host:Wow.
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Scott Tingle: And, it was just absolutely a dream come true. And I was like, looking at my application for the 2009 class. I was like, well, I got to go to my grave knowing I tried as hard as I could. I updated a couple little things, and then threw it in the application. And lo and behold I got a call. It said, why don’t you come down and talk to us. It was like, okay. And I’m kind of old. No, come on down. So, we came down. We had a good interview, came out for the second. Had a good interview and then I got the call to be an astronaut. But I had kind of given up a little bit. I didn’t give up totally, but I was kind of seeing some writing on the wall that my path was going to be leadership in the United States Navy and having a great career there.
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Host:Okay.
[00:42:27]
Scott Tingle: But then, I got this call to come be an astronaut and I couldn’t resist.
[00:42:31]
Host:Of course.
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Scott Tingle: Like I said earlier, it was a hard decision.
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Host:Yeah.
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Scott Tingle: It wasn’t easy, but I had to do it.
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Host:Right. Wow. So was it, I mean you said you were going back and forth putting applications in. Is that where you, you know, you realize okay I need that developmental experience. Yeah?
[00:42:47]
Scott Tingle: So, and I had a couple folks here that I had talked to on and off. And, you know, I was always the geek that would surf the new guys that got selected. And then I’d email or call them out of the blue, and go hey how did you do it? And a lot of them were really good folks that helped me out with some good. In fact, I was trying to decide whether I wanted to go in the Navy or go in the Air Force to be a pilot when I was working as an engineer. And then one class got selected and it was Taco out at, he had just gotten selected from the Navy side. And I called him, and he was one of the guys that actually answered his phone. And I was like, hey, I’m trying to decide if I want to be an Air Force pilot or a Navy pilot. And it was quiet. And then I hear this. Boy, there ain’t nothing like flying off the ship. The next day I signed up at the Navy.
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Host:No way, next day? All right there it is. I’ve made up my mind. How about that. I should have asked you before, why Navy over Air Force because — .
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Scott Tingle: You know, I was actually probably leaning towards the Navy a little bit more because I was enlisted in the Navy, you know, during that time frame.
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Host:Makes sense.
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Scott Tingle: Yeah. So, it was an easier transition. But the Air Force has some really nice machines and some good communities.
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Host:Yeah.
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Scott Tingle: That are very, very interesting.
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Host:Absolutely. But you know, even back then, you know, you were calling up astronauts asking them, you know, what did you do to get to where you are. And that astronaut made it very clear.
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Scott Tingle: [laughter] Exactly.
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Host:There you go.
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Scott Tingle: I may not make it to the astronaut corner, but I’m sure as hell going to fly off the ship.
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Host:Yeah. Wow. All right. So, taking that Navy experience and you know, your first couple years of astronaut training. You know, we only have a couple minutes here. But, you know, how has that helped you, your experience in the Navy with especially, I’m guessing, the T-38 was kind of not a nice transition flying more aircraft.
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Scott Tingle: Yeah, it absolutely was. The T-38’s a really fun airplane to fly. And the ones we have here, if you’ve ever been out to Ellington and met those, the maintainers out there, phenomenal. Phenomenal mechanics and structural guys. They absolutely, those airplanes are 50 years old.
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Host:Wow.
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Scott Tingle: Plus, and the amount of rework and care and TLC they put into those things, it’s absolutely amazing. They’re a dream to fly. It’s like getting into a new car every time. And they’re just such good care about that. It’s really impressive. It makes me not want to fly them because I don’t want to break them, you know. But they’re really fun to fly. The Navy experience was really valuable from a grit perspective, you know, flying in a cockpit that’s hot well maybe the systems aren’t working right, or you lose an engine. Or you’re in a poopy soup because your flying out over the cold water and you’re having a hard time moving and breathing.
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Host:Oh, yeah.
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Scott Tingle: And you learn to overcome these things by just focusing on the things you need to focus on.
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Host:Yeah.
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Scott Tingle: I call it being on government time. You know, it’s okay I’m working for the man right now. I can’t quit, I got to keep going. And then, and so that you know, the Marines call it you know, we’ll say Semper Fi, never leave a man behind, or whatever. And they just drive through it the Seals, they just drive through the pain. They drive through the challenge. They drive through the frustration. And you get a lot of that in the, with flying in the Navy to make things work out right. But the big thing I take away from all of that experience is the oodles, and oodles of people working behind the scenes to make an operation happen. You can be the guy that goes out and jumps in the cockpit, but the cockpit you’re jumping into that airplane was just worked on by probably 30 people. You know, and it was probably you have a whole support of thousands of people making sure the systems are designed right and are working right and are the logistics chain to get them the parts to you, to keep them running.
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Host:Yeah.
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Scott Tingle: And then you have all the operational people who are feeding you the intelligence you need, the information you need to have a safe flight plan. You know, and all the trainers that have taught you how to fly safe formation, keep safe tactics, and certified you in combat operations. And then you have people on the ship making sure you’re not going to fly into the back of the boat, and making sure you can come home and get that slider at the end of the night.
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Host:Yeah.
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Scott Tingle: For that. And so, to me, putting that all together, you know, it’s just all of my friends working together to make the mission happen.
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Host:How about that.
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Scott Tingle: It’s the most inspiring thing I’ve ever seen.
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Host:Fantastic. Well, you’re going to be launching here soon. And I think, I’m not sure when we’re going to release the podcast, maybe before or after your flight. But, you know, you’re going to be going up soon here, in December. What are some of the things we can look forward to seeing you do on orbit. Do you have, you know, EVAs planned some special experiments or some social media that you’re going to be doing?
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Scott Tingle: Yeah. So, we’ll be doing some social media a little bit. I’m going to hand it off to Craig Bernard up at CB office there.
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Host:Sure.
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Scott Tingle: He’ll help keep me out of trouble. We’re going to do some things there that can get ourselves into trouble pretty good. So, I’ll send down some ideas to him, and he’ll follow through. And he’ll filter out the things that will get us into trouble. Right, Craig? And then.
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Host:He’s listening.
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Scott Tingle: Yeah, we’ll definitely be doing some science up there. You’ll be seeing the little experiments up there. We do have some EVAs coming up. I don’t know if I’m going to be going outside or working as the IV inside helping the other folks go outside. Okay.
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Host:We are going to be capturing some vehicles. Some dragons, some sickness I think. We’ll be doing some robotics there as well for that. And then we’ll be doing a lot of educational outreach events as we call down to different schools, different locations to you know, say hey and say come work in the space community because it’s cool.
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Scott Tingle: Yeah.
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Host:Go, you know, study science technology engineering math, you know, become a test pilot, do whatever you’ve got to do to do your dream.
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Scott Tingle: Absolutely.
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Host:And you know, maybe follow Scott Tingle’s path and plan it out from an early age.
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Scott Tingle: Yeah, you know talking about the test pilot thing, obviously that’s very interesting to me. That’s my career path. It’s you know, flying the heat is just absolutely wonderful great experience. But, you know, the space community has all types. We have mathematicians. We have scientists. We have advertising specialists. We have, you know, marketing. We have PAOs. We have all types of folks involved in this community. So, no matter what your love is. If you want to apply that towards space, there is room for here in this community.
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Host:I love it. That is the perfect place to end it. We’ll do it right there. Well, Maker, thank you so much for coming on the show. For the listeners, just stay tuned to after the music here to learn how you can follow Maker on his journey and some of the, some of the other accounts on where you can follow along on the International Space Station journey. So, again, Maker thanks again for taking this time. And you know, best of luck on your launch and finishing up your training in the next couple months. And your six-month increment aboard the International Space Station.
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Scott Tingle: That’s right. Thank you so much. And it’s definitely time to get busy. Chop chop, Hubba bubba.
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[ Music ]
[00:50:21]
Host:Hey thanks for sticking around. So, today we talked with Scott Tingle. He goes by the call sign Maker. So, if you go on Twitter he is @astro_maker. And if you follow along on his journey. He said Craig Bernard is going to be doing the bulk of the work. But trust me, once he gets up there and he sees that, the view of the Earth from 250 miles above the Earth it’s going to be hard to not take pictures of all the beautiful sights. And he’ll be sharing that during his journey aboard the International Space Station for the next couple months. So, that’s @Astro_Maker. If you follow the International Space Station go to nasa.gov/iss or if you go on social media, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram you know we’ve talked about this a bunch of times before. But again, just go to the International Space Station, all the verified accounts. Twitter @Space_Station Instagram @iss, and you can follow along on the journey there. If you the use the hashtag #AskNASA on your favorite platform, you can submit an idea. Trust me I do look at them, and I’ve already made changes to the show because of some of the suggestions. You guys have been sending in. So, again, thank you very much.
[00:51:21]
Just make sure to mention “Houston We Have a Podcast” that way it’s easy for me to search. And I can find your query. Because #AskNASA, you know, that’s everybody asks NASA everything. There’s a lot of questions that come about. So, we try to answer as much as we can. But for “Houston We Have a Podcast”, just, that’ll help me out a lot. So, this podcast was recorded on September 25, 2017. Thanks to Alex Perryman, John Stoll, Pat Ryan, and John Streeter. Thanks again to Captain Scott Tingle for coming on the show. We’ll be back next week.