Jessica Meir:
What we realize looking down on the planet is that our commonalities, the things we have in common, there are many more of those than there are things that make us different.
Sam Saperstein:
Welcome back to Season Four of the Women on the Move Podcast. I'm your host, Sam Saperstein. Women on the Move is a global initiative at JPMorgan Chase designed to help women grow their businesses, improve their financial health, and build their careers. This season we're taking you inside JPMorgan Chase's annual Women's Leadership Conference, where we addressed critical issues affecting women. Our diverse speakers shared leadership lessons and career tips, and taught us how to take care of our wellbeing. Overall they had one thing in common, optimism about the future and unwavering positivity. It's a fascinating season you won't want to miss.
When I think of memorable moments for women in 2019, the first all-female space walk immediately comes to mind. I was riveted by this story last year, and I'm delighted to introduce you to half of that history-making team, NASA astronaut Jessica Meir. Jessica spent 205 days in space from September 25th, 2019 through April 17, 2020. During that time she made 3,280 orbits of Earth. Jessica conducted the first three all-women space walks with crewmate Christina Koch totaling 21 hours and 44 minutes. She has a fascinating career in the sciences, and we're so happy she's joined us here on Earth. Jessica, to begin, how and when did you become interested in becoming an astronaut?
Jessica Meir:
My first distinct memory of it was in the first grade when we were in the classroom and asked to draw a picture of what we wanted to be when we grew up. I drew a picture of a person in a space suit, which of course represented me, standing next to a flag on the surface of the moon in that iconic kind of Apollo image that I think many people have in their head. Ever since that time space was always something that everybody associated me with. It was always my dream and what I was most passionate about.
Sam Saperstein:
Jessica, you're also a marine biologist so you studied the ocean, and of course you studied and been in space. So you've been in two of the most uninhabited and unknown areas of our planet and outside the planet. What drew you to both of those areas, and is there any similarity between the two of them?
Jessica Meir:
I think what drew me to those, is the parallel between extreme environments and exploration, and this desire that I had since I was a child of wanting to understand more about the world around me. Whether that was in my previous career working in the Antarctic, where you have gone through the whole rigor of designing a robust experiment and going through the scientific process and experimental design to carry this experiment out, but then doing so in a very harsh environment.
The perfect parallel would be a space walk, the most challenging thing that we do physically and mentally. And you're working somewhere where there are fewer people and there is less known about some of that situation and the environment that you're in. I think that's what drives me, just that curiosity and that desire to explore.
Sam Saperstein:
Tell us about the training and the selection process at NASA.
Jessica Meir:
Most of our job as astronauts is actually spent on the ground training. We have a very robust training regime from the time that we start our jobs and an incredible team of support people on the ground. They're the ones that are truly the experts teaching us everything that we need to know to operate safely and effectively up there, and to keep us safe during that whole process. A vast majority of that time for me was actually spent in Russia training at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center about an hour outside of Moscow, in a town called Star City.
This spot, Star City, was actually not on the map. This was a secret city that during the Cold War and the space race they specifically didn't want us as Americans to know about. So the significance and the history of that was certainly not lost on me every day I went into class as an American female studying and learning in Russian all of the different ways to understand how to fly the spacecraft. Doing that in the very same spot where Yuri Gagarin, the first human to fly in space, was trained during the space race is such an incredible feeling and unique experience.
Sam Saperstein:
Jessica, you and Christina did do the first all-female space walk, and I'm curious how you thought about that, the historical significance of the moment, and how you were preparing for it.
Jessica Meir:
There were certainly a lot of different emotions leading up to the space walk for me, and also really in almost the year that's passed since then in processing the importance and the significance of that event. When I was scheduled for the space walk, I had only been on board the space station for a couple weeks, so I was still the new kid on board getting used to just daily life onboard the space station. Then I really needed to start preparing mentally for the space walk since space walks are absolutely the most challenging thing that we do both physically and mentally and the riskiest thing that we do as astronauts as well.
Now, for Christina and I the fact that we were going out the door with another woman, part of that was really kind of irrelevant to our job. We were going out of the hatch that day to do a job, and we happened to be the two fully trained astronauts that were assigned to do that mission. But of course that isn't to say that we didn't understand and really appreciate the significance of the event that was going to happen. We really didn't feel as if it was so important for our own personal achievements. For us, the most important part about the event was really that it paid homage to the generations of women and minorities that were pushing the envelope and breaking those glass ceilings before us.
There were decades of women that didn't have a seat at the table like we were so fortunate to have now, and we owe it to them and to all of the hard work that they did in paving that way for us. So I think for me, that's the most important thing that I take away for it is really a tribute to the work that all of those women and minorities did. Of course, we still need to take it further. Of course, we're still not quite at a point everywhere in our society where we do see true equality, and that is something that we need to continue moving toward. But I think that this event was something that helped people appreciate and revel in how far we truly have come.
Sam Saperstein:
When you were up in space, the COVID pandemic broke out here. What was it like to watch that news here, and then what was it like to come back during it and have to isolate further?
Jessica Meir:
It absolutely was quite surreal for us to be witnessing that from the space station, and it felt almost like the beginning of a really bad sci-fi movie, where there are only three humans onboard the space station and they're watching this global pandemic. When we looked out the window and we saw this equally stunning Earth spinning below, it was difficult for us to imagine the kind of changes that were happening down there, and the fact that all 7.5 billion humans on the Earth were being impacted by this pandemic in some way or another, and only three of us humans up there weren't.
So it was a very interesting perspective for us to have. We absolutely returned to a completely different planet. And I think that's something that I'm still dealing with and processing with since we are kind of a few months behind where everybody else was on the Earth and dealing with things now how they are.
Sam Saperstein:
I have to ask you this. What was one of your favorite things about being in space?
Jessica Meir:
Well, there are so many favorite things. I was happier than I've ever been in my life. I think a lot of people have commented that that was pretty apparent based on the smile on my face that really never left for pretty much the entire seven months. The space walks were the absolute highlight, all of the scientific experiments. But I think if I reflect on it now and just think about the one thing that made me the happiest, it's just that simple aspect of floating itself.
You spend all day, all night, you're constantly floating, and that makes everything so different and so much more fun. You know, just in the middle of a conversation or after a meal, you might start bouncing up and down, or spinning in a ball, or throwing something at your crewmate. It just gives you this sense of playfulness that I think is lost in a lot of our adult society.
Sam Saperstein:
Anything else we want to get in here just with the brief amount of time? Any other messages? You're speaking to a host of women, range of ages, professional women, I know all over the globe really, so would love to give you maybe any last words.
Jessica Meir:
Yeah. I think that seeing the Earth from your own eyes from that vantage point above, it does change you as a person. I looked at that throughout my mission mainly in three different ways. The first of that was appreciating how fragile, and special, and unique our planet is. Environmentalism is something that's always been very important to me, but I felt an even stronger connection to our planet when you see it positioned like that in the void and blackness of space.
The other thing that it really brought out was how connected we are. You see all of the continents, and the land masses, and how they're connected, and the oceans, and it makes you realize that we really are one. Whether that be through an environmental standpoint of working together really as a planet not just as individual countries. Whether that be in dealing with this global pandemic that truly affects everybody on the Earth. Or whether that be how we think about things like the civil unrest that we've been facing in our nation, equal representation for minorities, for women, for everybody on this planet, in realizing that we truly are one.
I just wish that everybody could have that appreciation and have that sense, because I think it would be difficult to not feel that when you have the privilege of seeing the planet from above. What we realize looking down on the planet is that our commonalities, the things we have in common, there are many more of those than there are things that make us different.
Sam Saperstein:
Jessica, thank you so much for joining us today. It's been a pleasure to hear your insights, and to just know what you've gone through, and have you back here just helping us see the Earth in a new way. So thank you very much for your time.
Jessica Meir:
Okay. Thank you very much Samantha. It has been wonderful to be a part of this incredible lineup of speakers. Thank you.
Sam Saperstein:
Huge thanks to Jessica Meir for joining us at Women's Leadership Day. Jessica's career as an astronaut and a marine biologist is incredibly inspiring to me. I love how she's drawn to the unknown and has cultivated such deep reverence for our planet. She's the definition of a trailblazer and a role model for all of us.
The mission of Women on the Move is to help women in their professional and personal lives. Our goal is to introduce you to people with great ideas, inspiring stories, and a passion to make a difference. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate, review, and subscribe so you won't miss any others. For JPMorgan Chase's Women on the Move, I'm Sam Saperstein. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. is a member of the FDIC.
