"Especially when I first really started to work with Kenneth and Franklin, who had been in space already. And so, they were able to talk about space and tell me a few things about how things would really happen"
About this Quote
There’s an unshowy humility baked into Perrin’s line, and it’s precisely what makes it feel credible. He’s not selling the myth of the lone astronaut-hero; he’s sketching the apprenticeship model that actually underwrites human spaceflight. “Especially when I first really started” signals a pivot from abstract preparation to the moment training becomes real, social, and embodied. The verb choice matters: he doesn’t say he “learned” from Kenneth and Franklin, he “worked with” them. Expertise here isn’t a trophy, it’s a shared practice.
The key phrase is “been in space already.” That quiet credential redraws the hierarchy. In NASA culture, experience isn’t just resume padding; it’s a different category of knowledge. Perrin nods to the gap between simulation and the lived oddities of orbit: how the body reacts, how timelines compress, how small frictions become mission-shaped. When he says they could tell him “how things would really happen,” he’s implicitly demoting glossy, official narratives. “Really” is doing the heavy lifting, hinting at the parts of spaceflight you can’t fully script: the psychological texture, the improvisation, the way procedure meets reality.
The intent feels practical: give credit to veteran crewmates and underscore preparation as transmission, not bravado. The subtext is cultural, too: space is the ultimate high-stakes workplace, and the closest thing to a cheat code is proximity to people who’ve already been there. In an era that loves visionary rhetoric, Perrin’s groundedness is almost radical.
The key phrase is “been in space already.” That quiet credential redraws the hierarchy. In NASA culture, experience isn’t just resume padding; it’s a different category of knowledge. Perrin nods to the gap between simulation and the lived oddities of orbit: how the body reacts, how timelines compress, how small frictions become mission-shaped. When he says they could tell him “how things would really happen,” he’s implicitly demoting glossy, official narratives. “Really” is doing the heavy lifting, hinting at the parts of spaceflight you can’t fully script: the psychological texture, the improvisation, the way procedure meets reality.
The intent feels practical: give credit to veteran crewmates and underscore preparation as transmission, not bravado. The subtext is cultural, too: space is the ultimate high-stakes workplace, and the closest thing to a cheat code is proximity to people who’ve already been there. In an era that loves visionary rhetoric, Perrin’s groundedness is almost radical.
Quote Details
| Topic | Learning |
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