Yes, There’s Several Paths To Get To Where I Am Right Now And Where The Other Researcher Pilots Are

Over my 28 years here, I've had the opportunity to work a number of different critical missions at NASA, particularly as a flight director.  And each one of those missions has been an amazing honor to have the public's trust put in my hands.  

But one of the aspects I like the most about it, which is also the scariest, is the fact that people's lives are in my hands.  Decisions that I make can impact the lives of the crew members, the integrity of the vehicle, and the success of the mission, and I liked having that responsibility.  I was honored to have that responsibility.

And I think if you are a flight director and you ever lose track of that, then it's time to stop being a flight director.

Before my question I would like to congratulate you on your career at Nasa, it must be amazing to work there even if you didn’t achieve your dream of being an astronaut, you can still lead missions from the ground. (Sorry if my punctuation is a bit off) as for my question, what has it been like to work at nasa all of these years and get to help with so many missions? Do you ever get nervous for the people who’s lives are in your hands? Signed ~ Phillip

Yeah, that's a great question and that's exactly how it feels.  Once we get up about 13 miles above the earth, and get everything set up and start doing the science collection, every now and again you have to kind of stop and just take a minute to look around.  And it's a fascinating sight up there.  

On a normal clear day looking down at the earth, you can see the curvature of the earth out in front of you, and then the sky is just a really dark purple up there because you're above all the moisture in the air that causes the dark blue to turn to light blue down towards the earth's surface.  And it's such a different sight, it really makes you understand how small we really are.

What does it feel like to be up there and look down at the Earth? I've always imagined it would send me into a moment where I feel so small compared to the expanse and beauty of Earth.

The first time I saw Earth from space I couldn't even talk; I was absolutely speechless, as were my crewmates.  The three of us were just silent it seemed like for thirty seconds, it was such a beautiful sight.  And one of the things that was really interesting to me was how different it was seeing it out the window with your own eyes versus seeing the picture.  

I think I had this idea in my head that I knew what Earth looked like because you've seen so many videos, but they're all photographic images, so the dynamic color spectrum is a little bit dulled.  When you see it with your own eyes, it's so much brighter.  It's so much more vivid than I could have imagined.  It's just this beautiful blue planet.

What was your first thought when you first saw earth from space? And what realizations did you have?

Hi, I'm Dean Neeley.  I go by "Gucci".  I"m the deputy chief pilot at Armstrong Flight Research Center.  And I'm excited to be here and answer some questions to everybody who's calling in through tumblr here.  This is a great opportunity to share with you.

It’s kick-off time! Pilot Dean “Gucci” Neeley is reporting for duty with answers to your questions in today’s Tumblr Answer Time!

In my 28 years here, I've been able to participate in a lot of exciting missions, but out of all of the future missions we have planned the one I'm looking forward to the most is being a part of boots on the moon in 2024.

What future missions are you looking forward to the most?

"So I got started working on black holes my first year in graduate school.  I actually tried another research project first about cosmology, but frankly the math was just too difficult for me, so I decided to go into easier things: black holes."

I love astrophysics and especially black holes and I want to pursue a career on them, but to be honest I'm scared to be not good enough or not clever enough. How did you decide to work on black holes? How did you become the person you are today?

Yeah, that's a wonderful thing.  And whether you're flying low level, over the earth's surface, or way up high in the earth's atmosphere like with the ER-2, there's different sights.  

One thing I like about flying low level is the vegetation, the hills, the mountains, the water - where you see details in the waves and the trees up close that are just absolutely beautiful.  Conversely, when you're way up high  you see everything.  And that's where you realize how many different pieces of the earth's surface come together, between the oceans, the big lakes, the mountains and everything, and the colors are so different that all they just paint an incredible picture from 13 miles above the earth.  

And when you look from the surface up through the beautiful atmosphere that we have from where the sky moves from a light blue color and then gradually gets dark blue and then purple and even starts to turn black way up high, that's just an incredible sight that I feel real privileged to see every time I go up there.  It's a privilege, it's just amazing.

What's the most beautiful natural scene uou've ever seen personally, as in Aurora Borealis, volcanic eruption, or something that made you seem like the Earth should be treasured?

"So most of the descriptions that I've seen about black holes in science fiction get it pretty close to reality outside of the event horizon.  Inside the event horizon we don't really know what's going to happen, so a lot of science fiction writers also kind of have fun with it and do whatever they want.  

In terms of outside of the event horizon, I think the most striking effect is that of time dilation, how time slows down as you get closer and closer, but still on our side of the event horizon.  And this was of course one of the major plot drivers of the movie Interstellar, so I thought that was really cool."

Out of all the theories and fantasies created around blackholes, which of them, in your opinion, do you think could come closest to reality?

My mother gave me the best advice I'd ever received, and it was "trust your instincts."  I've applied that when I was afraid to go away to college, and she told me, "Trust your instincts, stay at home."  

I've applied that every time I take on a new position where I'm afraid: I think I can do it, I'm not sure if I know everything that's required, but I'm pretty sure I could do it.  So trust your instincts, even though you don't have all the information, believe in yourself and you can achieve great things.

What’s the best piece of advice you have ever received?

"Short answer: No.  Long answer: Definitely no."

Science fiction sometimes makes it seem like it’s possible to live in a black hole. What is the truth behind this?