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SouthBound: Charles Bolden On His Adventures In Space, And Our Struggles Here On Earth

In this time when we have so many earthbound troubles, I wanted to spend some time in space. So I called up Charles Bolden.

Courtesy of Charles Bolden

Bolden flew on four space shuttle missions, helped deploy the Hubble Space Telescope, and was later in charge of NASA under President Obama. He is one of the lucky few who have seen our planet as a blue ball through a window.

But we ended up talking about more earthly things. How he had to overcome racism in Jim Crow South Carolina to launch his career. How he dealt with imposter syndrome even as he accomplished things most of us only dream of. And how, when it came time to explain why he wanted to fly the space shuttle, he did it as a letter to his mother.

He got choked up when he was talking about that part. I did, too.

SHOW NOTES

OTHER MUSIC IN THIS EPISODE

  • Surak, "A Comet Is Born"
  • Stellardrone, "Airglow"
Tommy Tomlinson has hosted the podcast SouthBound for WFAE since 2017. He also does a commentary, On My Mind, which airs every Monday.