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Speaker 1: Hello, Arrow, How you doing doing fantastic? How are you doing? Leland?

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Speaker 2: I'm great. Too much screaming last night.

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Speaker 1: For the super Bowl, though, That's what it's all about. Though,

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That's what it's all about.

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Speaker 2: Right.

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Speaker 1: We got to start things off by by speaking directly

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to young adults and in the way of saying, if

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you if your imagination is creating it, be like Leland

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and follow it, build upon it, you know, explore because

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that's the one thing that I love about studying you

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is the fact that you just don't say no.

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Speaker 2: I mean, that's funny, erro. I mean, my parents were

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middle school teachers, but they gave us everything, panel lessons,

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clarinet lessons. My mom gave me a camera when I

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was a kid, and I made her laundry room into

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a development area that's made all the clothes smell like fixer.

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So they feel that curiosity to me at a very

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early age, and I think more kids need to have them.

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But if they don't have that at home, maybe they

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can get it with Space Chasers. Maybe they can see

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themselves on the cover and say, maybe I can do

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this too.

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Speaker 1: Even as an adult, I can relate with this book

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Space Chasers because It reminds me so much of my

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own childhood, and to me, this book right here is

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going to open up imaginations in the way of saying,

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I want to go to space, and these people are

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just real, down to earth, everyday people, and they're gonna

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go exactly.

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Speaker 2: And I think having the dog element in there too.

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Kids love dogs and cats and animals, So having them

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go up to the International Space Station and pick up

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my dogs and he'll bring them back home, it's pretty

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cool too.

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Speaker 1: So now one of the things that instantly I think

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of when I was reading the book is I go,

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this would make a great series on Netflix, Hulu or

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even Nickelodeon. Are you in the toxic for something like that.

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Speaker 2: I haven't got to that point yet, but I'm ready

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Aero if you want to sign me up, all ready

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to go.

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Speaker 1: Did it feel like that you were stepping back into

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space by sharing this story?

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Speaker 2: I really did, because you know, Joe my co co writer,

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and and Alison Acton, who's the illustrator, you know, when

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we have these conversations, these email threads, it really did

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take me back. And one of the pictures in the

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book is of a sunrise and the kids are out

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doing a space walk looking at the sunrise, and you know,

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you see a sunrise in the sunset every forty five minutes,

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and it just really blows your mind when you think

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about how fast you're moving in our planet below us,

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and how we're all connected.

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Speaker 1: See, and it's so fascinating because I was that kid,

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and I would love to find out what you were

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like as a kid in the way I would tip

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the doghouse over step inside was headed to the moon,

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dude Snoopy style, right, That's exactly it, man, How did

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you move through the desire to be up in space?

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Speaker 2: My mom gave me an agent appropriate non oshous certifying

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chemistry set and I blew up her living room. So

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that got me into chemistry. And then my dad drove

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her a bread truck into our driveway and he said,

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this our camper and it was just a hollow branch trug.

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And that summer we turned it into a recreational vehicle.

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So building bunk bed to flip down. Mechanical engineering Coleman

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Stove's chemical engineering. I was learning all this stuff as

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a kid, and you know this got me on a

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path to thinking about science and engineering. I played some

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NFL time pulled a hamstring. So I didn't follow that journey.

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But the whole teamwork thing working with other people at

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NASA led me to applying to become an astronaut, and

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I got in.

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Speaker 1: Speaking of that teamwork that is very evident in this book.

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Right here, in this age where we want to do

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things all by ourselves around some sort of gaming thing

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where we just speak to each other, this book is

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about working together as a team.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, a lot of the kids in this book, they

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are believe in themselves at times, and you know that

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aposture syndrome, especially Tia, who doesn't really go to school

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much because her parents aren't in her life and she

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works as a mechanic in her brother's auto mechanic shop.

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But you know, with the other kids and me trying

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to tell her that you do have the right stuff,

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she ends up saving the day on the International Space Station.

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So enough of that, you know, grit and resilience that

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you can drive into kids now is shown through this book.

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Speaker 1: There's so much simplicity in it, and yet I honor it.

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One of the scenes that really kind of opened up

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my heart was the fact that the girl who doesn't

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have a pencil and a friend lends her the pencil.

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That to me warmed my heart because I don't see

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a lot of that anymore.

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Speaker 2: It's so much competition to be the best and we

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and you know, as astronauts, you have to share. You

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have to work together or it's perilous in space, and

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so you don't maybe make it home if you don't share.

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And I think that's something that I want kids to

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see in this book, that they become close knit friends,

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team members, and they look out for each other.

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Speaker 1: I recently did an interview with a woman who wrote

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a books talking about how important it is to just

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be weird, and one of the things that really caught

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me off guard was the the fact that she said

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astronauts are weird people and happy about that because they're

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weird about space. They're weird about science, they're weird about

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being up in space because why do you go to

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the bathroom up there? I mean, it's just do you

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feel weird?

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Speaker 2: I started out being weird when I blew my mother's

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living room up because I live a scientist, you know,

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and and nerds back in the day, you know that

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we get they would get you know, I don't know

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if you know what a melvin is. But when someone

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grabs your underwear, pulls about because you're a nerd, and

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they mess with you and do things with you. But

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nerds rule the world, and so being a nerd back

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then it was a blurred, a black nerd. But being

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a nerd is cool these days. And I think kids

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realize that you know, knowing how to solve problems, do

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tech things, play video games. All this stuff has a

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tech edge to it, and that's what we use to

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go to space and go to the moon of Mars,

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and so that's that's the future being being a weird nerd.

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Speaker 1: The book we're talking about is Space Chasers. I know

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that Jeff Bezos of those guys are trying to put

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real people up there into into space. But the thing is, though,

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is that your book allows kids to believe in themselves.

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Because I'm not seeing too many young adults coming off

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from jeffsa and little Jets. So I mean, you you

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at least give us belief and hope to be up there.

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Speaker 2: Well that's what we all need, right that belief and

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hope and a more positive and enlightened future for everyone.

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Speaker 1: What about AI technology, because I've heard that rumor that

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they're going to put robots on Mars before. Man, I

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would rather see a man or a woman up there first.

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Speaker 2: Well, we've had robots up there for a very long

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time curiosity, sojourner, and you know, they're the emissaries for

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getting us to see where the places are that we

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want to live. And so that's fine to send them

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out first. I mean, that's great, but we need the

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heart and the mind and the soul of people to

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make decisions real time without you know, without a machine

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doing it. And there's no way the machine can give

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us what it feels like, what it tastes like, what

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it smells like, a human being.

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Speaker 1: Can even with my it makes it makes you I

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get it, but I don't when I listened to it though,

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I just feel like this sounds windy all the time,

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and to me, it's just falsifies the situation.

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Speaker 2: And you can't get the Martian dust on. You have

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to clean yourself off with the v r agg.

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Speaker 1: So true, But you do believe that that young adults

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are interested in space, right, because I mean so many

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times people say, ah, no, people don't believe in space anymore,

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and it's like, are you kidding me?

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Speaker 2: Well, all the flat earthers that come up to me

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and I have to tell them, you know, we did

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a face or the distance face. But I think kids are,

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you know, innately curious, especially at these middle grade ages,

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and you don't want them to get turned off to

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the tech and science and things. But have them see

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what it's possible for even kids to go to space

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one day with dogs.

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Speaker 1: Yes, yes, especially you know because I was a child

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when those dogs went up by themselves, and I realized

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the full story of that. But the fact of the

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matter is it told me as a kid that we

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can all go up into space exactly.

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Speaker 2: And that's the message from space chasers. We're all possible

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and capable of doing these incredible things if we work

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together as a team.

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Speaker 1: Did you feel like a kid when that drone was

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flying around up there on Mars.

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Speaker 2: I've always thought a kids, big kids, don't you feel

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the way? Yes, we have to, because if a kid

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sees an adult acting like a kid and doing stupid things,

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fun things, it will bring them along and let them

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know that it's okay to be weird and to be

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a nerd and all of that, and that you can

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do these great things if you have that same type

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of mindset.

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Speaker 1: So they always say that we have our normal calendar age,

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and then we have the age that our mind, body,

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and soul believe that we are. I always tell people

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I'm still seventeen years old. What is your inner inner

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core age?

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Speaker 2: Probably thirteen?

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Speaker 1: Yes, And that's why this book is here, isn't it?

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Because that's thirteen year old? Put this book together exactly.

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You did this in math class man.

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Speaker 2: Oh, it's too funny. You're right, you got me.

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Speaker 1: Where can people go to find out more about you, Leland?

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Because you really do have an authentic story here.

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Speaker 2: I have a website, lelandnoven dot com. I have activities

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for kids to do in a section called stemography, and

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you know, you can google and see some things I've

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done online. But I think the main thing is to

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let them know that anything is possible. Believe in yourself.

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And if I can go to space, you can go

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to space.

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Speaker 1: I love it. Please come back to the show anytime

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in the future. The door is always going to be

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open for you.

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Speaker 2: Thank you, ero look forward to it.

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Speaker 1: Will you'd be brilliant today? Okay? Sir?

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Speaker 2: Yes, sir? Thirteen years old?

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Speaker 1: Yes, yes, By Guy