He’s joined us in the past to talk Orioles baseball and marvel us with his incredible resume as a Maryland-raised astronaut who led missions on behalf of NASA and our country. Now retired from space duty and deep in the heart of Texas, Terry Virts has been involved in local politics and discussing democracy and the threat of the Trump administration to all of us who salute the American flag.

Nestor Aparicio discusses upcoming events in Baltimore, including the Maryland Party in Vegas and the Preakness at Pimlico. He interviews Terry Virts, an astronaut and Orioles fan who ran for office in Texas. Virts shares his background, including his time at NASA and his recent political campaign. They discuss the challenges facing American democracy, the impact of Trump, and the importance of civic engagement. Virts emphasizes the need for the Democratic Party to focus on middle-class issues and the potential for Latino voters to swing Texas. They also touch on the Orioles’ season and the hope for the team’s recovery.

• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Give away Maryland Lottery scratch-off tickets on-air this week as part of promotions (scratch-offs to be distributed during the current week).
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Travel to Las Vegas to attend the Maryland party as previously announced (head out to Vegas for the Maryland party).
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Attend the Running of the Crabs / crab derby at Lexington Market next Wednesday alongside Luke and Ivan Bates (appear at the Lexington Market event next Wednesday).
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Appear at the Fishmonger’s Daughter in Catonsville on the 21st (scheduled event appearance on the 21st).

Orioles and Preakness Preparations

• Nestor Aparicio discusses upcoming events in Baltimore, including the Maryland Party in Vegas and the Preakness at Pimlico.
• Nestor mentions various giveaways, including Maryland lottery scratch-offs and crab cakes.
• The conversation shifts to the Yankees vs. Orioles game at Lexington Market and the Fishmonger’s Daughter in Catonsville.
• Nestor introduces Terry Virts, an astronaut and Orioles fan who is also a political candidate.

Terry Virts’ Political Journey

• Terry Virts shares his background, including his time in the Air Force, NASA, and his role as a space shuttle pilot.
• Terry discusses his decision to run for office in Texas, initially in a Senate race and later in a House race.
• He reflects on the challenges and experiences of campaigning, including the recent primary loss.
• Terry expresses his passion for public service and his commitment to addressing issues in the country.

Challenges in American Politics

• Nestor and Terry discuss the current state of American politics, including the impact of Trump and the rise of extremism.
• Terry emphasizes the need for the Democratic Party to focus on middle and working-class issues.
• They talk about the importance of civic education and the role of media in shaping public opinion.
• Terry highlights the corruption in the current administration and the need for transparency and accountability.

Impact of Trump on American Society

• Terry and Nestor discuss the long-term impact of Trump on American society, including the rise of extremism and the erosion of democratic norms.
• Terry shares his observations from campaigning in Texas, particularly among the Hispanic community.
• They discuss the role of propaganda and the importance of media literacy in combating misinformation.
• Terry emphasizes the need for a national debate on the future of American democracy.

Hope for the Orioles and Personal Reflections

• Nestor and Terry shift the conversation to the Orioles’ season, expressing hope for the team’s recovery.
• Terry shares his personal connection to the Orioles and his optimism for the team’s future.
• They discuss the importance of sports in bringing communities together and the impact of winning on civic pride.
• Terry reflects on his journey as an astronaut and the lessons he has learned about perseverance and dreaming big.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Orioles, Terry Virts, astronaut, political candidate, Texas, democracy, US government, Maryland, NASA, Space Shuttle, International Space Station, corruption, Trump, midterms, Latino voters.

8

SPEAKERS

Terry Virts, Nestor Aparicio

Nestor Aparicio  00:01

Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T, am 1570 tacit Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive, positively, getting you ready for breekness in Laurel, not at Pimlico this year, but we will have a whole lot of race covers coming for you next week. I’m also headed out to Vegas for the Maryland party. But before I go, there will be crab cakes, including, if you have Planet Fitness and Timonium. This week, I will have the Maryland lottery scratch offs to give away. I have the horses out in front. These are the acid tea courses. They’ve been very popular, along with the the Ocean City board walk will be down there in August. Also. We’re going to be at faintly and Lexington market next week for the back end of the Yankees in the Orioles. That’ll be next Wednesday. Luke will be joining us down there, as well as Ivan Bates as we do the running of the crabs. It’s the crab Derby for all things Preakness next Wednesday at Lexington market. And then we’ll be at the fishmonger’s daughter in Catonsville on the 21st I’ve been trying to get this guy on for a while. I mean, I bring him on right in the middle of the Yankees kicking our ass. He’s sort of the famous astronaut guy who’s an Orioles fan, but who also became even more of a public figure as a political candidate. Last year, he got real busy. He was on the trail trying to win things in Texas, and now he’s, I don’t know what he’s doing, but Terry Virts, it’s always pleasure to have you on. I told my wife today, I said, having rock stars and astronauts on today, you know, so I I know I’m living a life the right way, but last I checked in with you, you and I were texting back and forth. You were on a trail to run. You’re pissed off, like all good Americans are, and I know, you know you went out into space wearing suits, trusting the American government and our science and all of these things that we don’t believe in anymore. And I just been a long time since I’ve had you on. The last time I had you on, it was like, all light hearted Oriole playoff talk or something like that. You know,

Terry Virts  01:54

we were talking about, that’s back when we used to talk about Oreo playoffs. Oh,

Nestor Aparicio  01:59

8

man, that’s, see, you’re gonna lose your press credential. You talk like that, man, you know that’s

Terry Virts  02:04

we. I think this is the it’s funny. Just before this, I was at opening day, by the way, this year, and it was awesome. And I do want to talk horses, but I just called up the IL like, it’s just brutal with Helsley and Rogers and Jackson holiday and Dean Kramer, kirsted, westburg, Mount castle. It goes on. Efflin, of course, Bautista, it’s been, go through

Nestor Aparicio  02:26

the batting averages of the guys playing, if you wish to, which is also been problematic.

Terry Virts  02:31

It’s been, yeah, I you know, I think Pete’s going to come around. But anyway, it’s been. The good news is we’ve got all this, like, potential. It’s not like,

8

Nestor Aparicio  02:43

hey man, like

Terry Virts  02:44

it’s only May, it’s only the first week, you

Nestor Aparicio  02:46

know, they don’t like me, and I thought they were going to win 92 games this year, like I was bought in on, you know, even after efflin looked so good in Sarasota, I just thought, like, their pitching is going to be good enough, and the bats will come around. Listen, I’m not worried about Alonzo. I’m not even worried about gunner Henderson. I’m not worried about hey, rushman looks okay. I just think, in a general sense, I’m worried more about the city behind me, and where I live, the downtown, and what it means when they win, and how powerful it is when all the celebrities like you and Joan Jett, you know, the Oriole fans everywhere pay attention to them instead of what it’s felt like this week, which is, you know, listen, you’re down in tech, and I don’t I’m going to get to that Astro hat behind you in a minute, whatever that is. But there is a point where, like, I live here, I’m in it. We talk about it. Luke and I were going to go to New York, literally today, as we’re recording this, to see them play. And it’s just a lot more fun when they win for all of us, right?

Terry Virts  03:48

8

Yeah, it is. That’s why. I mean, opening day was amazing the I grew up, you know, I was a kid back in the 70s and 80s, and now those are like the Orioles heyday, and you just expected the Orioles to win or be competitive every year. And it feels like with this young group of talent we’ve got now, that that’s the way we should be. But, man, they can’t all go on the injured list at the same time. I mean, we’ve got, like, an entire starting team on il right now. Excuse my cough. So they’ll they’ll be back. It’s only the first week of May.

Nestor Aparicio  04:22

I’m a westburg guy. I got to get Westberg back. I mean, the 92 win team to me was westburg holiday. It, you know, was believing in O’Neill maybe more than I should have. And honestly, Ward’s been fantastic, and I didn’t even weigh him in on this. I mean, rushman has to come around holiday is a one one mean they have to be not just small time contributors, but it’s been very disappointing with mayo, right? It’s been very disappointing with Colton kauser. I think that’s the hardest part of watching young guys fail and look, we’re old guys. Now we all know how hard this is to do, right? I mean, we’re real Oriole fans. We go back to everyone that’s ever done it or didn’t do it, or good years or bad years. There’s just been a lot of bad years. It’s been 43 years. And I’m, I’m just, it’s May, and I want to have a season. You don’t have to win the World Series. Just give me a season. And I think that’s the hardest part for me here in early May, saying, no, no, not this again.

Terry Virts  05:22

It’s not going to be this again, these. I think there’s too much talent here for it to not be competitive. And you know, with the expanded playoffs, you don’t have to be the Yankees, you know, you just have to have a good team. Get in October, get hot at the right time. So it’s the first week of May. I’m still optimistic. That’s my old NASA helmet. I flew T 38 in that orange and black helmet.

Nestor Aparicio  05:48

No, on the other side you have an Astros hat.

8

Terry Virts  05:51

I do.

Nestor Aparicio  05:51

Yeah, yeah. Come on, you can’t deny that. Jimmy win, I you know that that’s more modern. But, um, give everybody your pathway, because I consider and read your wiki, and I’ve done that, and it’s, you know, you’ve led such an incredible life, but that the Oriole part of this, and where life takes you when you want to be an astronaut, and Houston, Houston, come in Houston. It’s in all the Superman movies. It’s in all of that. Yeah. I mean, you’ve lived an incredible life. We could talk about all that and how it’s led you to the political Trail, which is, I didn’t even get a chance to talk to you when you were candidate

Terry Virts  06:28

year.

Nestor Aparicio  06:30

8

Yeah. But

Terry Virts  06:30

so I was born in Baltimore, grew up in Columbia, most mostly all around Maryland, and went off to the Air Force. Cab man when I was 17, flew F 16 for a decade, became a test pilot, and then I came here to NASA in 2000 So a while ago, ended up flying as a space shuttle pilot. I finished building the International Space Station, then I went back a few years later and was Commander of the Space Station. Actually, as part of that flight, I was back up for Reed Weisman, another Maryland astronaut who was the commander of the Orion mission that just went around the moon. So Maryland’s had,

Nestor Aparicio  07:07

he’s been up the street. Delaney, you know, they take credit for sure.

Terry Virts  07:11

Yeah, yeah. He’s, he’s, he’s from Baltimore too. So that was my path. Retired from NASA a few years ago, been kind of doing different things, doing some film and TV projects, wrote a few books, a lot of speaking. Public speaking was kind of my, my daily bread. It’s how I put bread on the table. But, you know, just seeing what’s going on in the country, I couldn’t sit around and do nothing. It’s been I served for too long defending the Constitution, and, you know, seeing what an amazing country we have, and I’ve had the privilege of being to all seven continents. I was based in Korea and Germany and the Middle East and the Air Force. Spent a lot of time in Russia with NASA. I’ve I’ve traveled around the world too. We have an awesome country. We have a great, great, great country. And what’s happening now is not good. It’s really bad. So I couldn’t sit around and do nothing. So about a year ago, I decided to run for office. I started off in the Senate race. That was too big of a thing. And when James Talarico jumped into that, it was obvious to me he was going to win. So I switched to one of the local House races. And actually, I just lost the primary here in Texas A couple weeks ago. So I am back to figuring out what I do when I grow up. But I’m so passionate about the country, passionate about what’s going on.

8

Nestor Aparicio  08:42

What did you learn out on the trail and throwing your hat in the ring, and maybe even before that, what made you do it like it? That’s an up all night thing, because, you know, I saw the city catch fire. I saw Freddie Gray, and that’s how I went from sports radio guy, you know, and watching my wife almost died. My wife was the first responder 911 in New York, and got and got leukemia in 14 and in 15 again, and almost died twice, and a man from Germany saved her life twice on the bone marrow registry. So we believe in science and things like that. My wife’s had 155 nights at Johns Hopkins, fighting for her life, wondering if she’s going to live. And on the other end of that, Trump’s running the country. We got we, the woman who’s the mayor of Baltimore, has healthy Holly and we have fireballs in the sky, and we have cops, you know, picking kids up on the street, and they wind up dead by the time they get them downtown, and the city’s rioting. So like that led me into it. But the Trump thing was no small part of me wanting to do Baltimore positive from the beginning, and as we sit here all that we’ve witnessed, I’m I’m astonished every day of my life that there are people in my space that still support this. And you live in a state that you’re surrounded by it.

Terry Virts  09:57

Yeah. So I. Think about this deeply. I mean, January 6 should have been a deal breaker forever. No questions asked, but it wasn’t. And so what one of the things when you can find my my launch video, is probably out there somewhere on the internet. When I ran for Senate, my launch video basically said, look, as Democrats, and I ran as a Democrat. I’m a Democrat. We told the country that Joe Biden wasn’t too old. It was clear that he was too old. We told the country that the open border is not a problem. You’re racist if you’re against it, the open border was a problem. We told the country, democracy, democracy. And then we parachuted Kamala in. By the way, I’ve got a thank you note from Kamala on my desk. I was a Kamala supporter. We parachuted Kamala in without a primary. So the American people, we lost a vote. 49 and a half percent of Americans voted for Trump. We lost a vote on trust to the most corrupt, lying person in history. So as a party, although look the Republic, the Republicans are horrendous today, what they’re doing to the country, but as a Democratic Party, we need to get better, and we need to have that debrief like, Okay, what were we doing wrong? I think Democrats are going to do really well in the midterms, but we need to the one of the worst things that could happen was we do well in the midterms, and we think it’s because people like Democrats, and in Maryland, they like Democrats, but around in much of the country, they don’t. And we need to make sure that we, if we become the party that people want, like the party. I think we need to be focused on middle class I think we need to be focused on working class issues, because what’s really happening is the billionaire Silicon Valley Tech road class is just gutting our country and our society, and they’re taking so incredibly much power. If we become that party of like working people, I think Democrats start winning elections two thirds to 1/3 and we win in places like Texas, where we haven’t won since 1994 statewide, Kansas, Wyoming, you know those states that used to be democratic states. If we focus on the middle class, we can get back to that. That was my that’s my premise, I guess, if you will.

Nestor Aparicio  12:12

Terry Virts is here. Oriole fan, astronaut and political candidate was isn’t right now, but clearly you wanted to make a difference in some way. What kicked you into gear? Trump, Texas, something, something.

Terry Virts  12:27

8

If this was Mitt Romney Barack Obama, I would have been living my best life, you know, going to Orioles games and not, you know, not doing this. But it’s not Mitt Romney Barack Obama, right? Like things have profoundly changed. So one of the projects I’m working on right now is going to be about the corruption that we’re seeing. And we’ve never seen anything like I mean, it’s astonishing how much corruption on all angles of everything there is. You know, the the two men who negotiate everything on behalf of America, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, are in the Middle East negotiating on behalf of the US government, while they’re also raising billions of dollars for their private equity and crypto funds. The President’s sons are advisors for companies that are getting 10s and hundreds of millions of dollars of contracts. So it’s I remember

Nestor Aparicio  13:16

when Jimmy Carter signed over the Peanut Farm right Terry

Terry Virts  13:20

Hunter Biden was on a board of this company that, by the way, he got approved through the State Department, and he was making 50 grand a month, and he shouldn’t have done it. And it was a dumb idea. And the Trump family has literally made billions and billions of dollars. Of course, Jimmy Carter had to sign over his Peanut Farm, you know. And so we’ve never seen anything like this. Is this puts Rockefeller and JP Morgan and those guys back in the 1800s to shame, and the amount

Nestor Aparicio  13:48

of money that Elon Musk poured into the election, and the amount of dirty money and the amount of the amount of international money, not to mention the mine crimes of Cambridge Analytica and what was going on the first time Trump got elected with social media. Really, really, it’s astonishing how gullible our society has become in the last 15 years in in the digital space, and also in recent times. The thing I notice is when I talk AI to people, people are tuned out on AI and oh, that’s just such not a good idea.

8

Terry Virts  14:29

AI is coming for your job. AI is coming for your job. You know, there are some jobs mortician, if you work at the funeral home, you’re going to need a person doing that job, right? Plumber, somebody’s going to come out and need to turn their wrenches. There are, obviously, there’s going to be a lot of jobs that need to happen. If you work in an office, AI is coming for your job, and the people making AI are just brutal. I know because I work with them. I I talked to venture capitalists and. In these and bankers and stuff. They want AI to come in and get rid of as many jobs as possible. That’s that’s the one and only driver for Wall Street today. Everything that causes a stock price to go up. And by the way, the stock market is flying high. It’s at an all time high right now. That’s because AI is coming in and pushing your job out. So unless you know this, you know, you we’re going to be just sheeps going off the edge of the cliff. And, you know, Nestor, it really comes down to we’ve been given this amazing country. I mean, what a blessing it is to be born. If you were born in America, you have won the human lottery, right? Like, this is you. This is pretty awesome to have this country. And we got to get better at civics, like, the information. Is out there, and it’s our job to get the to understand what’s going on, to understand the corruption that Trump’s doing. It’s not, I think, the excuse of, well, this isn’t what I voted for. I live in Texas. I ran in a Hispanic district, heavily Latino district, and a lot of the I’ve knocked on 1000s of doors in the last year. Had a lot of conversations sometime in Spain. Where

Nestor Aparicio  16:07

is it? For people here in Maryland or anybody, by the way, Terry forts is here. I know I’m fascinated, because I haven’t done hours of research just into this, like you’re talking about knocking on Latinos doors. I’m Venezuelan. I know the neighborhood that I grew up in now is mainly Latino and very targeted. Would be ice targeted. I was in Minnesota with Springsteen a couple of weeks ago for the first night of the tour, and it’s just, it’s fascinating to me, like what you’re hearing when you’re knocking on doors here.

Terry Virts  16:35

So I ran in a Latino district when I when I filed, I was the I was basically the only serious candidate, and then a Latino candidate came in and they won the primary. But I talked to 1000s of people, and every once in a while I talked to especially older Hispanic men I voted for. They’re like, embarrassed. I voted for Trump, but this isn’t what I voted for. And I’m like, Dude, what the did you think you were voting for? I mean, there was no doubt who we he is, who he is. And so we can’t make that. We can’t get fooled again, to paraphrase the who, you know, we can’t get fooled again. We have to be better at this. And and Latinos, if you look at a map of Texas, all of South Texas, where the border is, voted for Trump, heavily for Trump, and these are Hispanic towns.

Nestor Aparicio  17:23

8

Why

Terry Virts  17:24

they didn’t want open borders. It’s funny, my whole team, my my staff, was all Hispanic, and after we lost, I had fajitas at my house. They all came over, and I was like, All right, guys, help me understand here, like Trump says, You guys are rapists and murderers. So why would a Mexican guy vote for that. And my my top guy, who’s awesome. He’s my age. He’s like, Terry, what do you think Mexicans say about other Mexican like, Have you ever been to my mother’s table? You should hear what she says about other, you know, Mexican Americans and that kind of, you know, very down to earth outlook. I was like, Okay, I get it. They because if you’re coming here, you know, without permission, you’re competing against them, and you’re bringing wages down, and the guy that’s a legit American citizen doing a housing, you know, drywall or roofing business, and all of a sudden, all the there’s a million other people that that hurts their business. So it, it actually was bad for second and third and fourth generation Mexican Americans to have it. But my point is, if the whole Hispanic community of Texas voted for Trump, they weren’t doing it because they’re racist. They were doing it because they didn’t want that. And in the white liberal college Manhattan, Los Angeles, democratic universe, that kind of ivory tower look of, oh, we should just let this and that. That’s not how people in the middle of the country think. And so that’s my point that I’m trying to make about the Democratic Party, is that we need to get back to the roots of, like, just average people. Of course, what ice is doing is evil. And of course, like the the Hispanic community is mobilized here. They came out, I think two and a half times more people voted in the midterms this time as last time. And I saw it on Election Day. Man, that line was wrapped around the thing. And I’ve stood in line for 12 hours talking to people. It was nothing but 18 and 20 year old Latinos, and they they didn’t know who they were voting for. They just knew they were voting because they were really mad about ice and So traditionally, Latinos don’t vote. If you take a political class, the word on the street is young people don’t vote. Latinos don’t vote. Just go for the old white people and African Americans, they vote too. That’s not what’s happening right now. Because of what Trump’s done, he’s he has awakened a sleeping giant, I think so, if that Latino motivation stays true in November, like we saw in March, Texas is going blue, for sure. Now I don’t know if that motivation will still be running high, but if the motivation is what it was in March, Texas is going to vote Democrat. Do.

Nestor Aparicio  20:00

Terry verts is here, astronaut, Oriole, fan Marylander, but now sort of Texan, and I can tell by that Astros hat he has next to him. Gosh, there’s so much I could because I want to do some outer space with you a little bit, based on where we’ve been in all of that and my fascination with the solar system, when in 1976 when I was in third grade, my very elegant moms just sat upon nine pins. There you go. So that I still work on all of that, but I want to stay on government, and I want to stay on Trump in Texas, because it’s not often that I speak to folks in Texas who’ve had the chutzpah to, you know, throw their hat in the ring in a way that, and I’ve been to Houston many times, Dallas, Austin, very different worlds in lots of ways, the state itself in how it’s it represents itself, but then I see Ted Cruz, and I’m thinking like there’s a buffoonery involved that I don’t get when I sit with Chris Van Hollen, or I did not get when I sit with Larry Hogan, you know, across aisles, and when I endorsed Bob Ehrlich, which I now regret, 20 years ago, so like I’ve been doing this, sitting and talking to candidates, yucking it up, having a beer forever, and then Trump came along, and it’s all of a sudden, it’s sort of all of this is very evil, you know, as I see it, and not from an MSNBC perspective from a I’ve been a journalist my whole life. All I’ve ever done is ask questions and say, Hmm, this person bullshitting me, or, you know, like and then putting my name to it for since I was 15 years old at the newspaper. So I’m blown away by how pawed in even, you know, there’s not, there’s not one person I know you said you’ve met some people who are off the train. I’ve really not had anyone come to me and say I was really wrong about this Trump guy, like, you know, the Epstein thing that did it for me, January 6, that did it for me. I voted from the first time around. I thought it was cute when he was doing things about, you know, the podium nonsense and the grabbing by the pussy like all of that, I voted for that, but I’m off it now. I don’t meet any percentage of that person on the eastern shore in Harford County, or in the very, very, very small circle that I have managed to maintain of people who are in that in the Venn diagram of voted for Trump and are still in my world after watching this,

Terry Virts  22:29

right? Well, like I said, I think the Hispanic community is probably the community that’s willing to flip the most. You know, like African Americans are Democrats. They’re not going to change liberal white people on the on the coasts are Democrats, are not going to change. The white people on the eastern shore in Harford County are Republicans, are not going to change. And they’re and that number is probably 30% 32 33% but the Hispanics, ironically, are the one swing demographic that that can change. And the the only thing I’ll say, Nestor, we look at it and we’re so shocked. And I’ll say, people call Trump a fascist or a king or whatever, he’s a mob boss, I think. And I’m reading this old article today, patrimonialism. He runs the country like a mob boss. That’s how that’s I think the best all these other things he has aspects of I think the mob boss is the best way to look at it. But you know what? In 1939 they had a Nazi rally at Madison Square Garden with a giant swastika on the wall. In 1940 we had a guy named Father Coughlin, 25% a quarter of Americans. 25% of the population listen to him every week on his weekly radio program. He was a Catholic priest. He was a fascist. He was pro Hitler, pro Mussolini. 25% Americans tuned in. I just watched, there’s a great

8

Nestor Aparicio  23:54

and their children listen to Rush Limbaugh a generation later, right?

Terry Virts  23:57

And and, and and I just, I just listened to darkest hour. It’s a great movie. Oscar winner, 2017 about Churchill. Look America was not helpful. Like we didn’t give England anything. We lent them 50 old destroyers that we didn’t want, but they had to pay us for it. Like we we were not on the side of good until Pearl Harbor happened. And so this is nothing new. And I will say this during Orion or the Artemis mission last month, I was on Fox News constantly. I was on Newsmax a bunch. And whenever you log on, you got to log on 10 minutes early, and so I’m sitting there, and I got to listen to the program before me, before we talk about space.

Nestor Aparicio  24:40

I got stuck in an auto shop three months ago, and I did 30 minutes of news Max, and I’m like, I mean, I reached for my phone, and I’m like, no wonder you people are. I mean, like, just it blew my mind to be subjected to it and saying, oh my god,

Terry Virts  24:56

8

propaganda works. I mean, propaganda works. These people never hear about the corruption. They never hear that Trump’s sons are getting army contracts. They never hear, I was listening to Steve Scalise, House leader and Tim Scott, the black senator. They’re just lying. They were on there. They’re like, inflation is coming down. Gas prices have never been this low. You know, Trump has done this and that they they gave a three minute clip on whatever it was, you know, Meet the Press or whatever, nothing but lies. And

Nestor Aparicio  25:36

it’s very Orwellian, from what I read in middle

Terry Virts  25:39

school. They don’t call them out. Yeah. So I man, I think of all the problems we have, I mean, I wish people, we need to get back to civics, like, make sure that you’re well informed. Make sure you vote for good candidates. And if I’ll just say this, if any of you, if you’re listening to Fox News or Newsmax all the time, you gotta switch it up. You gotta go.

Nestor Aparicio  26:03

There’s a media literacy issue that’s just gone the other way. Yeah. I mean, like, as an example, I worked for the Baltimore Sun in the 80s, and I was trained as a real journalist. If you pick up the Baltimore Sun right now, it is completely run by the people that ran Fox 45 and it is what it is, and there is no correlation for what the shield and the brand stands for any more than like sports illustrated in my old space we’re trying to get to the bottom of life. We have a Terry Virts here astronaut, and so the outer space thing, let’s talk about this for a minute, because my wife and I have looked up in the sky and seen things flying that we never saw flying before. We’re like, what’s that? It looks like Alfred put the bat light up. And, you know, Batman a little bit, and Elon Musk’s role in this and Space Force and, and, you know, I drive past green belt all the time and see the Goddard Space Center. And, you know, and I think there’s nobody in my audience that didn’t dream of being an astronaut for at least one minute during like a Milky Way commercial or something. But for all that you’ve been through and now watching it, I don’t know I’m getting so skeptical as an American to know what’s real and what’s not real, and so please tell me that all of this stuff here, that somebody like you is keeping everybody on the up and up about the space program.

8

Terry Virts  27:24

Well, yeah, I grew up, you know, when I was a kid in in silver spring and then in Columbia. I had a poster of the all white space shuttle Columbia. I had a poster of galaxies and Nebula. My parents worked at the Goddard Space Flight Center, and I

Nestor Aparicio  27:41

wasn’t even patronizing you. I just drove to the Capitol center that way,

Terry Virts  27:44

right off 295, I mean, Goddard is amazing, if you get a chance go down. They got a small Visitor Center. Go down there and visit. They the web telescope was done out of Goddard. The Hubble telescope was done out of Goddard. There’s a Hubble the Space Telescope Science Institute is in Baltimore. So Maryland has an important history. There’s something called TDRS that are these communication satellites and Landsat, that are farm satellites, and they’re both run out of Goddard. So Goddard does a lot of super important things, like the American economy, the world economy, in some ways, and scientific exploration depends on Maryland, which is pretty cool. So Goddard is very cool, but that’s, that’s what I wanted to do. And I, you know, I remember the first book I read was about Apollo, and I remember thinking, Well, that looks pretty cool. I want to be an astronaut. And, you know, everybody looks at you and they’re like, Oh, that’s nice astronaut. You know, nobody actually gets to be an astronaut. You should be an accountant instead or something. But I just didn’t listen to him. I plowed ahead and I we could talk about that on the next time. But long story short, so my my motivational speech that I give for kids and for adults and whatever is, don’t tell yourself No, if there’s some dream you have, the first step in getting there is, don’t tell yourself No, I’m

Nestor Aparicio  29:00

8

going to go watch your speeches or hire you in, or, you know, go see you in the big room. Terry vert, is here any hope for the Orioles? Tear No,

Terry Virts  29:09

oh yeah, dude, it’s May.

Nestor Aparicio  29:10

All right.

Terry Virts  29:11

I got the, I got the list here. Ethel and I think is done. Mount Castle, westburg, kirsted, Kramer holiday, hesley, if you got all those guys coming back to your team, that’s a pretty, pretty good shot in the arm.

8

Nestor Aparicio  29:27

One day. Me, you and John McClane will go to an Astros game down in Houston. That would be some fun. We’d have a good time doing that. Wheels are

Terry Virts  29:34

here. Come on down to Houston. Man. It’s a great, great, great baseball state.

Nestor Aparicio  29:37

My cousin lives in Katie. She’d love to see Him, trust me, yeah, go over to original nymph is, we’ll get we’ll do it all proper, you know, do it, do it the right way. We’re in Houston.

Terry Virts  29:46

8

I think there’s more hope for the Orioles than the Astros this year.

Nestor Aparicio  29:49

It’s been long time since we could say that. So we’re, you know, one step up. I think at this point on our next time we get together, you and I will talk about the seeing the Earth from afar, and me seeing the Northern Light. For the first time in Towson, Maryland last year, no less. And, yeah, and how, you know, we could, I think we could do an hour on outer space, just you and me, you know, and I, I could sit here say, Terry, tell me what it’s like to be an astronaut, but in the mean, and we’ll do that. And with the Orioles go bad. And in the meantime, I’m sorry that your political campaign didn’t go exactly where you wanted to go, but as it was said to me, when I decided not to do it, you could do more on the outside than you can do on the inside, and I think this is to some degree, you’ll be doing something next time I check in with you,

Terry Virts  30:34

I’m not, I’m not going to give up the fight. It’s just a different way to fight. For sure, our country is too valuable, man, we the we’ve been given too much. So we can’t let this we can’t let it go down the drain.

Nestor Aparicio  30:44

Get that cold better, man. I’m worried about your cough. I gotta send you back to space. Send you back into politics and knocking on doors. Terry Virts astronaut one time Baltimore. He claims us his home, even though he’s got that Astros hat next to him. You might want to slip in, you know, an Oriole hat there, or something, now that the Astros are in last place, so we can do that. Always great to visit with him, political candidate and and friend in Texas. We are Baltimore, positive. Stay with us. You.