U.S. astronaut Thomson makes strong case for perseverance
05/05/2017
"Perseverance and hard work make dreams come true!" It was under the banner of this slogan that Dr. Donald Thomson dazzled a very large and enthusiastic audience at Azm University on May 5.
The American astronaut recounted his experience and obsession as a young man to become an astronaut and the three rejections from NASA that he faced, before, with a lot of perseverance, succeeding on his fourth try.
Dr. Thomson visited Azm as part of a tour of Lebanon’s schools and universities organized by the Young Leaders Development Program.
Dr. Thomas, who orbited the Earth a total of 692 times during his four missions and spent over 1000 hours in space, started his talk by telling how he decided from the age of 6 that he wanted to become an astronaut and geared his all life and education in the pursuit of that goal. He focused his studies on science and math, he studied hard in the pursuit of his bachelor’s degree, and when that didn’t prove enough, he learned to pilot a plane, sky dive, and obtain a master’s degree, and eventually a doctorate. When even that did not prove enough, he moved to Houston to work near to NASA, to become more visible to recruiters.
The very affable astronaut then spoke about his experiences during the gravity-free flights, and the sensations of being 300 kilometers from the surface of the Earth, traveling at 27,000 kilometers an hour. For the duration of the talk, the entire audience was spellbound.