What Does Space Teach Us About Appreciating Everyday Life?

Seeing Earth From Outside

SPEAKER_00 0:00

You step outside, and everybody else, all the other humans that you know about, are down below the planet, and the rest of the universe is out there. You can see the whole universe. It's out there. It's out there for us to explore. You look down and you see the most beautiful planet in the solar system, and it's there for us to live on. We're so lucky to be born on such a beautiful place, the place that has atmosphere, the place that has food that just grows out of the ground. Space, it's too hard. We don't have those things. We don't have gravity. We can't see the planets any better than we do on Earth. But the stars, they don't twinkle in space. I look at it as adventure and action and going to help human humanity. So I'm looking at all the positives.

Meet Colonel Mike Fink

SPEAKER_01 0:41

Welcome to the Yog Nation, the Spirit of Gratitude podcast on the OneToggration platform. Hello, friends. My name is Yogesh Patel, and this podcast explores the themes of building self-awareness and the power of our inner spirit, including the silent battles we all face. Join me every week as I invite high-profile guests as we explore how adversity shapes us, how gratitude lifts us, and how we can all uncover the inner strength that we all have within ourselves. Join the conversation. I appreciate you listening in.

SPEAKER_02 1:12

And my next guest is one of our space program's national treasures. Colonel Edward Mike Fink was selected by NASA in 1996 to join their astronaut program, completing two years of initial training and evaluation. His accomplishments speak for themselves, four trips to space, a combined 549 days in zero gravity, ranking fourth all-time among NASA astronauts, nine spacewalks, time aboard the International Space Station, mission specialist on the final flight of Space Shuttle Endeavour, and his most recent mission came aboard NASA's SpaceX Crew 11, where he spent five months in space before splashing down off the coast of San Diego in January of 2026. In this episode, we explore what gratitude feels like beyond Earth, where borders disappear, uncertainty is constant, and the vastness of outer space changes how we see humanity. This I'm looking forward to. From NASA's selection process to spacewalks, stars, Artemis, and the inner spirit that connects us all. This conversation reveals what Bacon Astronaut teaches us about courage, perspective, and possibility. And with gratitude, it is an incredible honor to welcome distinguished astronaut Colonel Mike Fink to the podcast. Welcome aboard, sir.

SPEAKER_00 2:31

Thank you. It's uh a thrill to be here, and uh I'm looking forward to our conversations today. Uh, you hit the nail on the head, space changes a person, and that we can all learn from that experience. Not everybody will have a chance to go, but I'll do my best to share as best we can.

SPEAKER_02 2:47

And what is that feeling like, sir?

SPEAKER_00 2:49

So we'll

Gratitude During Spacewalks

SPEAKER_00 2:50

start right off. I had a chance to do nine spacewalks. You're outside of a space station that's going around beautiful planet Earth, the most beautiful planet in the solar system, 17,500 miles an hour. You step outside, and everybody else and the whole, you know, all the other humans that you know about are down below on the planet, and the rest of the universe is out there. And what are we doing down on this planet? We're fighting each other, we're not getting along exactly, but when you look out, we have a whole universe to explore. It changes a person.

SPEAKER_02 3:21

And what is that feeling like? I mean, and it's how does gratitude differ from here on Earth versus outer space? Because we hear stories about, you know, the skills and the ethos of gratitude. Is that any different in space? Does it does it have a new dimension or a new lens or a new perspective? Can you describe it, I should say?

SPEAKER_00 3:42

Yes. Um, it is deep, deep inside of us. I think it's uh two orders of magnitude at least, more than what we feel on on planet Earth. And there's a lot of a lot of layers, a lot of reasons. First, uh from the biggest uh down to the, I don't say the smallest, but the the more personal. The biggest, you can see the whole universe. It's out there. It's out there for us to explore. You look down and you see the most beautiful planet in the solar system, and it's there for us to live on. And and we and we're so lucky to be born on such a beautiful place, the place that has atmosphere, the place that has food that just grows out of the ground. Space, it's too hard. We don't have those things. We don't have gravity. But it's but uh so above we can see all of these things, and it really makes us appreciate our planet. And then we're grateful for the opportunity and and all of our teammates that got us there. It is not easy to build rockets. It is literally rocket sciences or science. And uh we uh we it takes a whole team, and we're just parts of the team that uh take us to these adventures, and then we're grateful for our families who let us go on these adventures and who grow who have a lot of faith in the system that uh makes sure that we keep it safe. It is uh so um so many layers of of gratitude, and uh we our crew often gave the heart sign just uh just to show how much we appreciate our uh our our our teammates and the opportunity to

Stars Without Twinkle

SPEAKER_00 5:12

be there.

SPEAKER_02 5:12

Taking a step back, when you seeing the universe, how lit is the universe? I mean, we see this the the night sky from here, but how lit up is outer space?

SPEAKER_00 5:22

When you can see the rest of the universe, whether and and the only thing between you and the rest of the universe is the uh the window of your cupola or the visor of your helmet. It's really uh truly amazing. Uh you can see the things that that you can only read about. I've never seen the southern constellations except for when I was in space. The Milky Way is is so full of splendor. We can't see the planets any better than we do on Earth, but the stars, they don't twinkle in space. They are just there. The photons coming from straight from their their photospheres are are directly to our eyes. We can see the vastness, how huge it is. It makes us feel grateful to be there, and uh so it's more of an awe of amazement than an awe of fear.

SPEAKER_02 6:14

But then you have work to do as well, right, on that spacewalk.

SPEAKER_00 6:18

Oh, yes. Uh they keep us busy, uh, whether we're inside or outside. And but we always have a chance, especially for a long-duration mission, to stop and really appreciate where we are.

SPEAKER_02 6:30

Right.

Family Sacrifice Behind The Missions

SPEAKER_02 6:31

Going back to what you initially framed about uh you know the gratitude of your colleagues and your family, I would have to think that for your family, it's also that level of sacrifice that they endure to put you in space along with the all of NASA to help propel you there. So could you speak about that? Because I think that's one of the central themes about this podcast, sir, and that is appreciating what you have with where you are for the people, the places, the things that have brought you to that point.

SPEAKER_00 7:02

We sometimes say that space flight is uh the biggest team sport ever, and uh I certainly believe it. And I'm very lucky to have on my team, you know, my wife and uh my kids. On my very first mission, uh my wife was already pregnant, and they assigned uh they moved us to an earlier flight by six months, and I had to call her and ask her, honey, can I go fly? You know, you might have to have the baby while I'm in space. And she said, Look, this is your dream, I support you. And uh she's um uh I'm eternally grateful to her because she's been super supportive. And we all can think about the people that have that support us along the way. Sometimes it's a spouse, sometimes it's your family, sometimes it's your teachers, your mentor. And uh they're all part of your team, they're all part of your your overall big family. And uh when we do something dangerous, and I didn't appreciate this until I was 20 or 30 years into the program, our families and our friends worry about us. It's uh I don't look at it as dangerous, I look at it as adventure and action and going to help human humanity. So I'm looking at all the positives, and you know, sometimes our families get a little afraid for us and say, Oh my goodness. I remember coming home on my second mission thinking, oh my goodness, what am I doing with my kid's dad? I'm putting my kid's dad in in danger for you know for the re-entry. And that was when it really struck me. So I can appreciate that they're that they have to be that brave uh to go through it because we get the credit for being brave adventurers. I don't know if I'm smart enough to be brave because I just assume and I have faith that it's all gonna work. But our families, they have would have a big loss if we didn't make it. So great I'm grateful for them. But even with that fear, they still are supportive. They're still glad that we go because they know that this is something this is something bigger than any of us.

SPEAKER_02 9:01

Yeah, and I'm just thinking, you know, it's it's it's more than just you doing this. Again, it's your family's unconditional love and support amongst your friends and family. I can understand the worry and concern because obviously we've lost these heroes up in space. Um, you know, God bless them. And that kind of reminds me of uh a book that I read from astronaut Leland Melvin. I believe you also spent some time with him at the International Space Station.

SPEAKER_00 9:30

Yeah, Leland is a great human being, and uh he's a uh a national treasure, and yeah, he's definitely spent a lot of his time trying to get uh science, technology, engineering, and math uh to out to uh more and more people because that is definitely a path to success and uh and a path to uh financial and uh stability and happiness and good jobs and and adventure. Uh he's a great example for our.

SPEAKER_02 9:59

Absolutely.

Confidence Under Uncertainty

SPEAKER_02 10:00

And in his book, Space, he writes if it's one thing they teach you in the astronaut core, it's how to act confident in the face of uncertainty. And the reason why I bring this quote up is because I'd like for you to answer this, sir, for the people that are stuck in a perhaps a current situation. Again, this all this podcast is nothing more than just sharing uplifting stories that can help reach a per, you know, this message that you'll share, hit a person at the right place at the right time. So, again, in the context of what I just mentioned about you know, acting confident in the face in the face of uncertainty, what do you tell the fellow listener or a colleague or someone on the street about living life to its fullest, being the best version of yourself, confident in the face of uncertainty?

SPEAKER_00 10:52

Confident in the face of uncertainty. As astronauts, we have faith. We believe in the rest of our teammates. We know that when they wake up in the morning, that they are going to do their very best job. And sometimes, despite our best efforts, we don't always do our best job. We give each other grace. So I find to be really helpful to keep my optimism and uh my faith in my fellow human beings. And even if they make mistakes, we or if I make a mistake, we give each other grace and say that's okay, let's keep going. We got this. And that those kind words uh go so far in this. We got this, or you got this, or uh you know, keep up the work. That makes a big difference. We are all humans, and we have to have that uh positive reinforcement. And if we can give it to each other, if we can accept it, and if we can keep the optimism, it's hard to not have a good day most days, if not every day.

SPEAKER_02 11:57

Is that how you describe humanity's inner spirit from from outer space?

SPEAKER_00 12:01

When we're in outer space, we're aboard, in my experience, the International Space Station. It's a symbol of what human beings can do when we work together. Fifteen countries put in their time, their sweat, their treasure to make something that's good for all of all of humans. And that's something special, and that's this the best of us. And when we're above planet Earth, we see sometimes down below, it's not the best of us because we're squabbling and fighting and and hurting each other. But up in space, we're not that way. So space can bring out the best of us, and that's what we really feel uh when we're up there is that we're you know we're representing and encouraging humans to be the best they can be.

Hope As An Antidote To Anxiety

SPEAKER_02 12:46

Do you ever think about people just having anxiety, depression? I mean, all the things that uh, you know, I would say the mental health. Does that ever come into play in terms of your thought process looking down on earth? It's like, from what I'm seeing from the heavens down below, it's grace, it's faith, it's I'm sure words are undescribable. Uh how would you tell that person that is perhaps anxious, you know, to chase their dream or something to or something to that effect, be the best version of themselves?

SPEAKER_00 13:24

I think uh one thing that I can see, especially being on the International Space Station, is that there's a joy of being, there's a joy of of knowing that uh of all the planets in the whole universe, we get to be on the coolest one. Uh but uh I can see a hopeful, optimistic future. When you're someplace and like you're aboard the space station, you can see the best of everything, and you can imagine that we as humans, we have a great future in front of us. And that I think helps reduce some anxiety and some fear because there's a lot of stuff happening down here on Earth that that can really bring us to lose our optimism. But when you're up in space and you think about the space flight and you think about people who are up there, just know that that there's people working for the best of reasons to do the best of things, and that we as humans have a great future. Our kids, our grandkids, our great-grandkids are going to live in a world much better than ours.

SPEAKER_02 14:25

Yeah, and I I guess you just triggered uh a point, and that is there's never a sense of loneliness out there, even though you're you could be one of 15 people outside the atmosphere circling the earth.

SPEAKER_00 14:40

No, we're all connected, and we have the technology to connect us. When my second uh child was born while I was on my first mission, her name is Tara, which means star. And she uh she I got to hear her first uh greetings to planet Earth, you know, or hello world. She was crying like a baby.

SPEAKER_02 15:00

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 15:01

But she uh we could hear, we could hear all the way in space. We are connected, we're all connected. Now we have so many ways to be connected with each other, and uh let's not uh think of the not use them for the the bad things, but use them for the good things. Let's you know look for the optimistic things out there, and uh it's gonna be great. Right. It's gonna

The Work Between Spaceflights

SPEAKER_00 15:22

be great.

SPEAKER_02 15:22

And what is something changing sort of changing topics here? What's something people don't know about being an astronaut?

SPEAKER_00 15:29

Yes, I think people think that astronauts fly in space all the time, and that would be so cool. Uh that's what that is our job. I've been an astronaut now almost 30 years and have only flown four times. So there's a lot of time between flights. And so the what people don't know is what we do between flights. We sure we spend time with our families as best we can, but we help our friends who are flying in space. We work as their captain communicators, you know, the communicators that talk with them. We work on new programs. I took 14 years uh not flying, but to help build new spaceships like the Starliner and the Dragon and even a bit on the Orion, which is part of Artemis. Those are things that we do to help each other, to help the program. And so most of the time as an astronaut, you're not flying, you're helping your teammates, and that's a joy.

SPEAKER_02 16:22

40 hours a week?

SPEAKER_00 16:26

Oh no. Uh it turns out to be closer to 60 hours a week. But it's because we're passionate about what we do. Uh we can't write all of our hours on the timesheet because you there aren't, you know, the they won't let us. But we we love what we do, so it doesn't seem like work. We get a chance to go out and share our adventures, we get a chance to go build new things, we get the chance to help and talk to our friends in space. It's a really great job.

SPEAKER_02 16:53

Well, and you're helping humanity. And I think uh a lot of people don't know that Velcro, I mean, Eva, you know, was uh an invention from NASA or the space program. So there's so many practical applications that have come from space and that have come from space research that are making its way down to

Space Science That Helps Earth

SPEAKER_02 17:11

Earth.

SPEAKER_00 17:11

So on my last mission, I was so impressed. Uh we uh we were just there from last August uh to this January, so very recent. I was so impressed with all of the different kinds of advanced science that we were doing. Early space station, we did some great science, but now it's evolved. We did some amazing stem cell research. We grew little organelles of uh of human liver uh that someday could grow into a whole uh a whole organ. We have worked on a lot of different pharmaceuticals. Uh some of them will be successful, some of them won't, but that's the process. So in the future, uh I mean now, but even more so in the future, there's gonna be a lot of companies that are gonna use low Earth orbit to make life better on planet Earth, and we're leading the way, we're paving the way at NASA, and I'm really proud of the team for that. And I'm grateful to have that chance to do things. I mean, I'm a I'm an engineer and a scientist. I never was a biological uh you know stem cell researcher, but I am now.

SPEAKER_02 18:15

That's uh I look forward to uh to the innovations that come from NASA.

Artemis And Returning To The Moon

SPEAKER_02 18:22

You mentioned Artemis. Could you give us a little sneak peek in terms of uh what the next three to five years of the program is going to look like if you can share that?

SPEAKER_00 18:30

Oh, it's super exciting. Uh we are very excited about Artemis, and we think the rest of the country is excited too. So, what what were we doing since people last walked on the moon in 1972? We did a whole bunch of amazing things, necessary building blocks. We built a space shuttle so that it could help us build a space station. We learned how to live in space. We had Apollo Soyuz, which led directly to the International Space Station. We learned how to work with our fellow humans on international projects and living and working in space. So now we're ready to go back to the moon and go live on the moon. And that's going to be great for humans. It's going to be international, it's going to be the best of us. So we had Artemis II just uh earlier this year. They went around the moon, they they tested the spacecraft called Orion. We definitely got some really good data on our rocket called the SLS Space Launch System. And then the whole team learned how to do this and work on something so big. So later, uh I guess uh early next year, later this year, we're gonna have uh Artemis III, and uh they're gonna go around planet Earth and work with the lander that we have. And then they're gonna Artemis IV, they're actually gonna land people on the moon. We don't know who it is yet, but whoever it is, they represent all of us. Every single one of us, uh the uh all humans are being represented when we walk on the moon. That is uh we, us, and our thing.

SPEAKER_02 20:02

All the countries, all the culture is represented by uh a few brave men and women. Yeah, that's that's incredible. I look forward to actually visiting perhaps Johnson Space Center or going back to Kennedy Space Center and just marveling at all the machinery, technology, and the people behind the program. And I encourage every one of my listeners to do that because it does humble you. And that's something that you know, seeing I've had the opportunity to see Endeavor, Atlantis, and uh Enterprise, and it's just an incredible feeling of, like you said, awe. Um seeing what this the dreams of of humans can do to put people in space because that's what it is. I mean, no one else created that other than humans to put people on Mars or will be putting on people on Mars and and the moon respectively.

SPEAKER_00 21:05

This is the best of us. This is what we should be doing. We have so much uh intellect, so many resources, uh, so many uh uh humans that we should be working together in harmony. We're humans, we're not always gonna be perfectly harmonious, but we can really build a wonderful future together. And that's why I enjoy being at NASA. That's why I'm so proud of my teammates. That's why I have a lot of gratitude in my heart, because I know this is something that's good for all of us. Uh you know, this is what humans should be doing, that we should be using our energy to be constructive and not destructive.

SPEAKER_02 21:39

What do you want people to take away from the from the NASA program?

SPEAKER_00 21:43

I would like people to know that we are working hard to build a beautiful future. That things are gonna be good, they're gonna be great, and it takes all of us working together, and we're imperfect. Humans we're just built imperfectly. We're going to make some mistakes along the way, but every day that you pick yourself up and keep trying and moving forward helps build that beautiful future.

Failure That Fueled The Dream

SPEAKER_02 22:09

Where did this sense of pride come from within you? I mean, was it something in your childhood? I mean, you went to MIT, uh, but it was was there a spark? And I say this respectfully for a young listener or even a parent that you know wants to chase their dreams and perhaps they don't know how to do it, but how did you do it?

SPEAKER_00 22:29

Yeah, how did I do it? Boy. Um, so I was uh three years old, I was watching people walk on the moon. And uh so it was uh pretty uh pretty amazing. In fact, I even remember watching uh on Apollo 16 John Young walk on the moon, and uh and turns out he came to my wedding. So there you go. It's a small world. So the by watching people walk on the moon, that inspired me. It just called to me. I said, this is something I want to do. So I studied the best I could. I learned how to read so I could read about space. I knew since I was very young, I wanted to be an astronaut. Not everybody wants to be an astronaut, not everybody has the same dream, but you can make dreams come true by uh really uh never giving up and and and applying yourself optimistically every day. You know, I flunked out of pilot training and it was on my birthday, and my girlfriend broke up with me, and if I had a dog, it would have gotten run over that day. It would have been a perfect country western song. But uh and uh I thought that uh that would stop me from becoming an astronaut. But I found a different way to be an astronaut. I was a flight test engineer, I got the test pilot school through the engineering program, I became a mission specialist five years faster than if I had uh it had all worked out for me to be a fighter pilot. So there's always a way.

SPEAKER_02 23:50

Is that the adversity that had shaped your success in these two incidences? I guess on the same day?

SPEAKER_00 23:56

Yes, it was uh it was not the best day, but it was my birthday, so there you go. So uh the ability to pick yourself up and dust yourself off is really hard. It is not easy when when uh you feel like you got hit in the in the stomach with a big punch, and uh you think that maybe your dreams don't come, you can't come true and give up. Don't give up. Have your friends help you, talk to people and and work together and have the faith that it's gonna be okay, because I assure you it will be.

SPEAKER_02 24:29

Well, what was that moment like though? Uh again, you can't have two competing thoughts at the same time. You can't have gratitude and being pissed off at the same time. Do you recall how you how you picked yourself up and dusted yourself off and moved forward? Or was it just simple as that?

SPEAKER_00 24:44

Well, um, I did have to go through the pissed-off phase. I was very disappointed in myself. I was angry at the universe, I was a little bit uh angry at the Air Force, I was angry at myself. Uh, those are, I think, normal things for humans when you're disappointed. But it was it was also just I knew that I had this thing in me that I got I had to go, I had to go to space, I had to had to uh have that dream. And uh so I used um I used you know the resources. I said, well, what are different ways? How did you know how do how do some of these astronauts who are pilots how did it work out for them? And I found a way. Also, I was very lucky. I had a in the Air Force we have a a great community of friends. It's not just limited to the Air Force, we all have communities that we can reach out to. And one of my friends helped me get a job uh being an acquisitions officer that allowed me to go to the test pilot school to be a flight test engineer, and that just set me up nicely uh to be ready to what NASA was looking for, Japanese and Russian-speaking flight test engineer to help build a space station. I was that guy.

SPEAKER_02 25:52

Also, you were that guy that never gave up on yourself.

SPEAKER_00 25:56

Uh it's not in me to give up, and it's not easy though. It would be so easy just to say, well, I can just uh settle down here, have an average career, and uh you know, enjoy my family time a lot more, and uh just say, hey, I gave it a shot.

SPEAKER_02 26:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:12

But it just wasn't in me to give up.

SPEAKER_02 26:14

True.

How Parents Build Big Dreams

SPEAKER_02 26:15

Is there anything else you would advise a parent or a teacher in reference to empowering them to chase a student or their own uh child and chasing their dreams? Is that again, never give up, or is there something beyond a little extra that there's uh there's there's there's there's definitely more to it.

SPEAKER_00 26:37

But never give up is definitely one, you know, the persistence, the grit is important. But one thing that um parents really can they have such amazing power to be uh to be uh supportive and to encourage because we even my teenage kids when they were teenagers, they didn't look like they were listening, but they were. And it's these uh it's these things where you can be encouraging. My parents, you know, we came from a humble background. I had eight younger brothers and sisters, but my parents never said no, you can't do that. They said, Yeah, you can do that. You can be anything you want to be. You just gotta work for it. And here, let's help you. So when I wanted to go to a summer camp to build a model rocket, a Russian Vostok, I uh my parents said, Okay, you have to pay for it. I've I had to sell newspapers, but I went and did it. And they encouraged me. They were it was always a positive thing about being encouraging. So we as parents have that uh have that superpower, and we need to use it for the power of good. With great power, with great responsibility.

SPEAKER_02 27:41

That is so true. And you just triggered uh a memory in me, sir, and that is uh back when the space shuttle was just getting launched off on the back of the or on the brown bags like grocery stores. There was, and then I thought I think Tang as well, that powdered orange drink, right? That was one of the inspirations for me to learn more about space and space exploration. So this certainly hits home. And for the citizens that are listening to this video podcast, I've got uh a model replica of the space shuttle Lego that was uh built by my my daughter. And then even though I'm of over 50, I still happen to have my dream, you know, buzzing this die cast model of the space shuttle. So uh this has truly been a remarkable recording, sir. Thank you for coming on. Thank you for sharing the optimism of what NASA's space program can do to serve humanity. I will give you the last word, sir, and that is is there anything that I missed in this recording on the themes of gratitude or perhaps on these five pillars around awareness, appreciation, humility, resilience, and courage that you'd like to share to the audience?

SPEAKER_00 28:55

I I do have a uh a parting thought, and I appreciate it, and thank you. This has been um very uh helpful to me too, because I'm a chance to share my thoughts with words.

Brothers And Sisters On One Planet

SPEAKER_00 29:09

One thing I'd like to leave uh for everybody is that when you're flying around our beautiful planet, the only world that we we know where all of human history has occurred, like to remind us all that we're just brothers and sisters. And uh when I'm aboard the space station, I feel like I'm uh the dad driving the minivan. And the kids are in the back fighting each other. Somebody, somebody said something, or somebody crossed the line, or somebody was breathing on somebody, and the kids weren't getting along. And you know how the dads sometimes turn around and say, you know, don't make me come back there. You know, please cut it out. Brothers and sisters. So I'd like to remind us that we're all brothers and sisters and that we shouldn't be fighting each other. We should be kind to each other and be the best that we can each day. We should be hugging each other and not fighting. And if I'm aboard the space station, don't make me come down there.

SPEAKER_02 30:07

Yes, Dad. Colonel Fink, it again, it's an incredible honor to have you on the podcast. I can't thank you enough. I can't thank the team at NASA for making this happen. And if there's anything that myself or the citizens of Yogg Nation can do, that's what I like to call our listeners, um, please let us know. We are grateful and in debt of your service. Thank you.