Issue link: https://tmcpulse.uberflip.com/i/1138339
15 t m c » p u l s e | j u ly 2 0 1 9 'We want some old astronauts,' I'd be up for it. That's where my inspiration was. Q | Your second mission was part of the Shuttle- Mir Program. You were a kid growing up during the Cold War. In some ways, that mission was a diplomatic effort as well as a technical one. What did it mean for you to be able to participate in something like that? A | That was historic. We have an interesting relationship with Russia now, but space has been an area where we really do col- laborate with the Russians. Out of all the disputes we might have with them, that's hands off. It's a great model for how we should explore space. It shouldn't just be one country exploring space, it should be a collection of space-faring nations coming together to go back to the moon or to Mars. After all, we're all Earthlings. That experience of being the first shuttle to go to the Russian space station was incredible. It was the first time two large vehicles had ever come together in space. Their space station was proba- bly 1.5 million pounds. Our vehicle was about half a million pounds. Q | Was it terrifying? Did you wonder what would happen if you bumped into Mir? A | Yes, that's why we were really careful. Not only did we have help from radar stations on the ground, we had our own radar in the spaceship in order to measure our distance. We had someone in the window of the shuttle basically pinging the space station and calling out numbers—200 feet, 100 feet—calling it out to the pilot as the pilot is also visually checking it. Q | That was also the mission when you became the first African American astro- naut to do a spacewalk. Didn't part of that walk involve testing space suits against extreme cold? A | Certainly it's an honor for an astronaut to do a spacewalk. But we could have skipped the suit test, as far as I'm concerned. I don't know if I've ever talked about this. What happens in orbit is we get exposed to extreme temperatures, from 200 degrees to minus 165. How do I know it's minus 165? Part of the study—we called it the space suit integrity study—required us to develop the first thermometer for space. We got on the end of the robotic arm, which extends about 35 feet. Astronaut Michael Foale and I hung out as the commander maneuvered the vehicle from pointing towards the Earth— where we can get radiant heat to keep tempera- tures from getting too extreme—to flipping the vehicle around to deep space, where we're radiating our heat. Within 10 to 15 minutes, the temperature went from 200 degrees to minus 165 degrees. It was crazy cold. So cold that my feet felt like I was standing on ice cubes. My hands were so cold I could barely keep them in my glove. We turned our temperature control to full heat, but it wasn't enough. The only way we could stand being out there was to move and raise our body temperature. After the experiment, they changed the suit. Q | How did you make the pivot to venture capitalism once your career with NASA ended? A | When I was done with my career at NASA, I had an opportunity to work for an aerospace com- pany called Spacehab that was venture funded. My involvement with venture capital came from a chance encounter with one of the founders of the venture capital industry, Jack Gill, who had a company in Palo Alto called Vanguard Ventures. I knew nothing about venture capital and said, 'I want to know about what you do and how you do it.' He suggested I go and get an MBA. After I did, he hired me to work at Vanguard Ventures. When we do on-board diagnosis in space, that infor- mation needs to be sent back down to doctors on the ground. That's telemedicine. I was con- vinced that telemedicine was the direction that health care was going. I redefined it as the intersection of medical devices, telecommunications and IT. That redefinition allowed me to go to other venture capital firms and let them see that this inter- section of technologies would be utilized in health care in a big way. That was probably 2000. By 2002, I convinced enough venture capital firms and one corporation to be the founding partners for my venture capital firm, Vesalius Ventures. For 17 years, we've been doing investments in the telemedicine space. Q | I've heard some astronauts describe viewing Earth from space as a life-changing, almost religious experience. How did that view shape your perspective? A | I've always had the perspective that there's something greater than ourselves here. I'm religious. I'm a Christian, so I believe there's a higher power. In space, I'm off the planet and can look back at it. It's a beautiful sight, this blue and white planet. I'm seeing it against this backdrop of stars that I initially saw from Earth and now see in space. It reaffirmed my belief that there's a higher power. I had an overwhelming sense that this was ordered. Everything had its place. I have a greater sense of belonging, of the connectedness of all of us. One of the things you don't see from space is the differences between us. It reminds us of our uniqueness, in a way, but also our connectedness to each other. If we focus on that, the world will be much better. Bernard A. Harris Jr., M.D., was interviewed by TMC Communications Director Ryan Holeywell. The conversation was edited for clarity and length.