Kathy Sullivan Explores

There’s a ton of content in the media about what some people are calling the “new space age”: the era in which space is becoming more democratized—and more commercialized. At a minimum, media coverage about this new space age has been about Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and space tourism. While it’s clearly an exciting time to be in the business of space or to start a career in the space sector, peeling...

Victor Vescovo is a private equity investor, retired naval officer, undersea explorer, and space tourist. He is the founder, Chief Executive, and Chief Submersible Pilot at Caladan Oceanic, a private marine research organization. As an adventurer, Victor has reached the North and South Poles, climbed the Seven Summits, and visited the deepest points of all the Earth’s oceans during the Five Deeps...

I started dreaming about living abroad when I was around 12 years old, figuring that I would achieve that by attending a university that had a junior-year abroad program. This dream was realized as I became an exchange student at the University of Bergen in Norway, where I had the opportunity to learn another language through an immersive summer program that involved living on a small farm at the...

Ché Bolden is a US Marine Corps veteran and President and CEO of The Bolden Group. Founded in 2017, The Bolden Group is a consortium of accomplished leaders dedicated to fostering international collaboration to make life better for all of humanity. Ché served for over 26 years in the US Marine Corps, where he also served as an International Affairs Program Coordinator and Weapons and Tactics Instr...

Ché Bolden is a US Marine Corps veteran and President and CEO of The Bolden Group. Founded in 2017, The Bolden Group is a consortium of accomplished leaders dedicated to fostering international collaboration to make life better for all of humanity. Ché served for over 26 years in the US Marine Corps, where he also served as an International Affairs Program Coordinator and Weapons and Tactics Instr...

I recently had a great chat here on the Kathy Sullivan Explores podcast with Alastair Humphreys, an adventurer, blogger, author, speaker, and filmmaker. Alastair is a prolific communicator who—through his website, speaking, and range of books and blogs—passionately advocates for getting more adventures into our lives. His book, Ten Lessons from the Road, brims with inspirational advice for life, h...

Megan McArthur Behnken is an American oceanographer, engineer, NASA astronaut, and the last person to be hands-on with the Hubble Space Telescope via the Canadarm. Throughout her career, Megan has served as a Capsule Communicator for both the Space Shuttle and International Space Station; she has flown one Space Shuttle mission—STS-125, the final Space Shuttle mission to service the Hubble Space T...

“There’s no such thing as bad weather, only poor equipment.” You have, no doubt, heard this adage. I have lived the truth of it many, many times in my life as an explorer. One of the strangest of such experiences happened in 1974. It all started with me visiting Iceland to attend a conference in Reykjavík and ended with me hunting for a pair of sturdy hiking boots I couldn’t really afford on my sh...

Alastair Humphreys is an adventurer, author, and keynote speaker. Alastair was named a National Geographic Adventurer of the Year for his pioneering work on micro-adventures. This concept encourages people to go outside their comfort zone and have cheap, simple, and short—yet effective—adventures close to their homes. His blog and books, including The Boy Who Biked the World and The Doorstep Mile,...

In the past 100 episodes of the Kathy Sullivan Explores podcast, I’ve explored rich and diverse life lessons from people of varying ages, ethnic backgrounds, and fields of endeavor. It has truly been a joy to explore people's lives—from their childhoods and journeys to where they are now—through genuine conversations. After over 100 chats with you through solo episodes or with our brilliant guests...

Helen Scales is a British marine biologist, writer, and broadcaster. Her passion for underwater exploration started when she learned to scuba dive as part of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award program. She has worked with the World Wide Fund for Nature, TRAFFIC International, and Natural England throughout her illustrious career. Helen is also the author of The Brilliant Abyss: Exploring the Majestic H...

In October 1984, I became the first American woman to walk in space. But, before this became possible, I had to face and overcome a hurdle that presented itself the moment I was given the assignment: NASA’s medical research team saw a problem that not only could have stopped me from the assignment—it could have ruled out all women from spacewalking. In this episode, I describe how I became the fir...

Robert Trevino serves as the Deputy Project Manager of the EVA Technology Development Project at NASA. He is a long time friend and the colleague I worked with on the Hubble Space Telescope before it was taken into orbit. He attended the University of Texas and graduated with a degree in Aerospace Engineering. Today, Robert is working on projects that include developing a new lunar rover for NASA’...

Have you ever been curious about how islands are formed? Whenever we look at typical maps like the ones on Google or in atlases, we assume that islands are simply land masses separated by some body of water. But, when you consider their geological underpinnings, you find that not all islands are the same. Islands like Madagascar and England, for example, are part of the continents they’re adjacent...

Elizabeth Blount McCormick is the owner and President of UNIGLOBE Travel Designers, an award-winning full-service travel management company that specializes in corporate and leisure travel. Alongside the UNIGLOBE team, Elizabeth designs, coordinates, and delivers complex travel plans for the diverse needs of individuals, groups, and corporate travel partners. Before becoming the President of UNIGL...

You’ve probably encountered a variety of leadership styles in your life. Which ones brought out the best in you? Which ones produced excellent results for your team? Many people believe that the way to get outstanding results from people and projects is to use the competitive and antagonistic style of leadership—the style that involves hand-to-hand combat if not verbal sparring. John, a fellow oce...

Bill Nye “the Science Guy” is an American science educator, engineer, comedian, television presenter, author, and inventor with a mission to help foster a scientifically literate society and to help people everywhere understand and appreciate the science that makes our world work. Making science entertaining and accessible is something Bill has been passionate about his entire life. Bill is a seve...

One of my favorite stories from my career as a NASA astronaut is about the night I attended a formal Air Force dinner in 1987. A fellow NASA astronaut, Joe Engle, had been invited to give a talk at the dinner but couldn’t go and suggested that I stand in for him—I did. What started as a night where I gave a talk about my career as an astronaut ended in a hilarious moment—me, wearing a baked potato...

Dr. Sian Proctor is a geoscientist, explorer, space artist and poet, and astronaut. She was a finalist for the 2009 NASA Astronaut Selection Program and, in 2021, served as the mission pilot for the SpaceX-operated, all-civilian orbital mission, Inspiration4. She is an analog astronaut who has completed four analog missions and was one of the all-women participants of the SENSORIA Mars 2020 analog...

My latest grand expedition was back in September in the Arctic. I spent most of the month with Lindblad-National Geographic exploring several of my favorite places: Norway, Greenland, and Iceland. Oddly enough, although I grew up in Southern California, I’ve always been drawn to higher latitudes—the Arctic in the north and Antarctica in the south—and my expedition with Lindblad-National Geographic...

Jim Toomey is an American cartoonist. His daily comic strip, Sherman’s Lagoon, combines his lifelong passion for art and the sea and has been syndicated to over 150 newspapers in 20 countries and six languages. In partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme, Jim has repurposed his cartooning skills into animation and created a series of short films on ocean conservation. He is the au...

David Cornell Leestma is a retired Captain of the U.S. Navy and former astronaut. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy first in his class in 1971 and completed his flight training in 1973. In 1980, Dave was selected by NASA to become an astronaut and would go on to log a total of 532.7 hours in space. He served as a mission specialist on STS-41-G (1984), STS-28 (1989), and STS-45 (1992)—in the...

Dr. Alan Jamieson is a Scottish marine biologist, engineer, author, and explorer known for studying life in the furthest depths of the oceans. Through the extensive use of landers—a combination of ship-mounted echo sounders and unmanned camera systems—Alan’s research focuses on discovering new species, establishing the true depth ranges of marine animals, and highlighting anthropogenic impacts at...

Dr. Janet L. Kavandi is an American scientist and NASA astronaut. She is a veteran of three Space Shuttle missions who has logged more than 33 days in space and traveled more than 13.1 million miles in 535 Earth orbits. During her time in the Astronaut Office, Janet supported ISS payload integration, capsule communications, and robotics. She was later the Deputy Chief of the Astronaut Office and s...

Mike Massimino is a former NASA astronaut, professor of mechanical engineering at Columbia University, and the Senior Advisor for Space Programs at the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum. Selected as an astronaut in 1996, Mike is the veteran of two space flights—the fourth and fifth Hubble Space Telescope servicing missions in 2002 and 2009. He is the recipient of two NASA Space Flight Medals—the...