meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
London Real

TERRY VIRTS - A BEAUTIFUL PLANET

London Real

Brian Rose

Investing, Business, Technology

4.41.9K Ratings

🗓️ 6 December 2016

⏱️ 114 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Terry Virts was a NASA astronaut from the year 2000. The Maryland native graduated with Academic Distinction from the United States Air Force Academy in 1989 and has logged over 4,300 flight hours in more than 40 different aircraft. He served as the Endeavour pilot for STS-130 in 2010, and was assigned to Expedition 42/43, where he served as commander for Expedition 43 in 2015. Virts has conducted three spacewalks totalling more than 19 hours and has logged 212 days in space on his two flights. Was previously assigned to the Extravehicular Activity Robotics branch.

WATCH THIS FULL EPISODE FOR FREE: https://londonrealacademy.com/episodes/terry-virts-a-beautiful-planet/

00:00 Trailer.
02:32 Brian's thoughts on the episode.
05:56 Brian's Introduction.
06:22 Thoughts on the UK and its history of exploration.
08:33 Watching The Right Stuff with George Zamka the night before going into space.
09:25 Viewing Gravity with Samantha Cristoforetti whilst in space.
11:29 Did The Right Stuff bring back memories of going to Flight School?
12:37 Characteristics required for being a test pilot or astronaut.
14:15 How the overview has affected Terry.
16:46 In space with a Russian during conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
20:21 Robust quality of Russian space technology whilst the US pushes technology limits.
23:44 Volume of work doesn't allow for too much contemplation.
25:06 Are astronauts kept busy for psychological reasons?
27:33 The importance of knowing about psychological changes from being separated from earth?
28:43 How to lead a successful team mission.
30:21 How astronauts are affected by communication delay when going further into space.
31:48 The us versus them mentality.
33;22 Why Terry now associates different countries with colour for his forthcoming book.
36-01 A passionate photographer taking the opportunity to take pictures of earth from space.
42:22 How does an astronaut replace that experience on earth.
43:24 How Terry became an astronaut.
47:46 Why Terry trained to be a test pilot.
51:31 Scariest moment as a pilot.
53:16 What it takes to be a F16 pilot.
55:43 As an astronaut, what he had to do mentally and physically to cope with 200 hours in space.
58:21 Dealing with a super dangerous ammonia emergency in space.
1:04:01 Russia's political attitude within the space industry.
1:06:44 Terry's views on Spacex and Orbital ATK.
1:09:15 Should NASA be building cargo supply rockets or a commercial endeavour try it?
1:11:42 What is needed to get man on Mars.
1:14:10 If man does go to Mars, can we get them back?
1:16:45 Terry's response to those who say we did not land on the moon.
1:28:54 The need for constant space exploration PR.
1:21:56 As Terry orbited the earth many times can he say if it is round or flat?
1:23:02 Does Terry ever consider there are Aliens, or life, out in space?
1:28:49 An indication from space of the world's wealth distribution.
1:35:31 Does NASA have any part of Terry's life now he has retired from them.
1:36:46 Success secrets.
1:37:28 The prospects for a world with faster broadband connectivity.
1:37:38 What Terry would like people to take from watching A Beautiful Planet.
1:39:14 How Terry got through the long wait to be chosen to go into space.
1:42:31 Transitioning from Nasa to the next phase of his life.
1:43:59 Creative energy will perhaps drive Terry's next project.
1:45:43 Phone call to the 20 year old Terry Virts.
1:47:27 Best advice ever received.
1:48:54 Advice to the young person wanting to know how to fulfil their ambition.
1:50:34 Brian's summing up.

FULL SHOW NOTES: https://londonrealacademy.com/episodes/terry-virts-a-beautiful-planet/

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

My whole mission was this dichotomy of the mundane and the sublime.

0:10.8

So I'd be and the sublime.

0:23.2

So I'd be like work, work, work, work, work, work, and then take a second and you'd see a view that humans weren't meant to see that is just, you can't even imagine. And I saw the sunrise and my first overwhelming impression was I've never seen that

0:33.5

shade of blue before it was just beautiful there's not even a word to describe it.

0:37.3

And it was like I'm seeing God out here in space.

0:45.0

That kind of puts the was in Russia,

1:02.0

half of my crew were Russian cosmonauts, and I just got to be great friends with that.

1:04.5

While I was training, the Ukraine Civil War happened.

1:08.0

So I'm in space with all this stuff going on and in space we watched little red flashes and with my cosmonauts we could see bombs going off in Ukraine.

1:18.3

When you're here born and raised on earth you just this is home this and everything else is out there but when you're out there you get to see

1:25.5

Earth as a spaceship flying through the universe. We need to be crewmates, not just passengers.

1:37.0

We need to be crewmates, not just passengers. What Shride inside was showing the sheep? Report I was We can't see. I'm going to do. So, This week on the show we welcome the NASA astronaut US Air Force

2:37.2

Colonel and Space Station Commander Terry Bertz. He spent over 200 days in space, the third longest

2:46.2

consecutive mission, and he at the same time took over 320,000 pictures

2:52.2

for space. He also filmed footage that is now the IMAX movie, A Beautiful

2:57.6

Planet, narrated by Jennifer Lawrence, and it's funny, Terry was actually in our studio studio and he was pointing out the footage

3:04.0

that he filmed in space on his GoPro camera on a spacewalk and me and the and the

3:09.5

video guys were like what and he's like yeah I filmed that on a GoPro and I filmed that here.

3:14.0

And he is really passionate about the way the Earth looks when he's up in space.

3:18.0

And of course, he's the consummate astronaut. He had amazing stories about what it was like to be up there with the Russians

3:24.0

Why the Ukrainian crisis was kicking off and how the Russian people were really

3:28.8

professional when it came to their space program and didn't let politics get in the way and now Terry is off to

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Brian Rose, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Brian Rose and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.