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>> Rick Mastracchio is a native
of Waterbury, Connecticut

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and grew up there in the 1960s
interested in the space program,

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but not with the idea that
he'd ever fly in space himself.

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>> Rick Mastracchio:
When I was a small kid,

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I didn't know you could
even be an astronaut.

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It never occurred to me I
could be an astronaut someday.

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But I was always interested
in math and science.

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I was always interested
when the teacher spoke

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about the aviation-related
topics or space,

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science-related topics even
when I was in grade school.

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>> He took those interests to
the University of Connecticut --

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the first person in his family
ever to go to college --

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and earned a bachelor of science
degree in electrical engineering

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and computer science, which got
him a job a Hamilton Standard

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developing guidance and flight
control systems while he

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finished a master's of science
in electrical engineering

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at Rensselaer Polytechnic.

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At that time, he saw
an ad from NASA looking

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for new astronauts
and decided to apply.

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What he got was a job
offer from Rockwell to work

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in shuttle operations, and
he moved to Houston in 1987.

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Three years later he joined
NASA as an engineer specializing

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in software development, then
became a flight controller

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in ascent [phonetic] and
entry guidance and procedures

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and was selected as
an astronaut in 1996

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after nine years of applying.

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His first space shuttle
flight was the 2000 mission

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that outfitted the International
Space Station's new Zvezda

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module for its first
permanent crew.

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He made three space walks during
his second trip to the station

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in 2007 on a mission that
delivered a truss segment

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and a new gyroscope,
and three more EVAs

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on a 2010 resupply mission.

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He sees this station as a means

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to support inevitable
exploration well beyond the

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neighborhood of this
blue planet.

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>> Rick Mastracchio: We
are meant to explore --

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"we" being the people
here on this planet Earth.

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We want to go out and
see what's out there.

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We want to know more
about things.

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And we can't just do that
through robotic systems.