As with any first-time experience, my first day as Spacevidcast’s ‘roving KSC reporter’ was filled with little issues that were giving me a very big headache. Gaining access to the internet three hours later than planned and trying to figure out how to juggle all the various programs to make the live webcast happen – were all piling up into a very stressful evening/morning. At 2:30 a.m. (EDT) I had my first interview with astronaut Michael Foale. He was polite, obviously tired and a life-saver.

I made sure to check and recheck that the internet connection was solid and the various programs were running properly and I went into the ‘green-room’ and told the six-time space flyer what types of questions I would be asking – and everything stopped working. I explained to Foale what had happened and he was unfazed and offered to reschedule. I asked for a minute – and mercy. Luckily, Tim Bailey was there and waded through all the tech issues in no time.

Now, as you might imagine, with all that I was a tad dazed – Foale wasn’t. Remember, this is the guy that survived a Progress spacecraft impacting the Mir Space Station. He took off, animatedly filling in viewers about his experiences on-orbit, the importance of the Tranquility Module and adjoining cupola. It was obvious that he had done this before and I was very, very thankful for it. He made me look like I wasn’t as flustered as I was and gave Spacevidcast an excellent interview. After the interview was over I relaxed and talked to Tim about how poorly it seemed things went. He smiled and said;

“Jason, you were sitting next to an astronaut, after he started talking – no one even noticed you.”

Although a little deflating, it was also reassuring, it allowed me to know that my first interview went well, (a fact later confirmed by the show’s hosts). The shuttle did not launch that morning; we would have to wait 24 hours for that to happen. The following night I conducted two interviews, more relaxed and confident than my first, I owed this new confidence to watching a pro at work.