Going Back To Space with Danielle Dallas Roosa

Danielle is the granddaughter of the Apollo 14 astronaut Stuart Roosa. Being the granddaughter of a famous astronaut lends itself well to Danielle's current job producing a television show about going back to space.

[4:45] Danielle's moment occurred while she was in college. She was feeling lost and miserable going to U of A when she saw a sign that encouraged her to transfer schools. Because she decided to go for it, she got into the University of Massachusetts Amherst and that lead to her getting an internship at NASA. Everything hinged upon the green sign she found that convinced her to take a chance at a different life.

[7:40] Going to college was never really an option for Danielle even though she felt that her strengths didn't really lie in standardized testing. At the time, the first few years of college were very difficult for her.

[11:25] Sometimes when you're the most lost, you don't know that you're lost. Seeing the green sign actually revealed how Danielle was feeling about her situation at school. The exchange turned into a permanent transfer after Danielle realized that the freedom at her new school was what she was looking for.

[14:40] A big part of Danielle's new life was being a part of the drumline. She practiced for six hours a day as part of one of the best drumlines in the country.

[16:30] The internship at NASA opened every door in Danielle's life from that point on. Her mom insisted on doing an internship and lucky for her, Danielle's mom had connections within NASA that got her in.

[17:55] Danielle loves studying communication. You can have the biggest disagreement with someone and it's usually because you're just not understanding each other. A lot of conflict occurs because people are sticking to their form of language instead of communicating in a way that other people will understand.

[19:30] Because of Danielle's naivete and ability to communicate, her career at NASA got started off on the right foot. She walked into the administrator's office and basically told him that she wanted to learn from him and help, and because of that, she had all sorts of opportunities to write his speeches and work on interesting projects. This was the first time where Danielle felt like she was worthy of success.

[21:40] Being in NASA was the closest she ever felt to her grandfather. He died when Danielle was 2. He grew up as a poor boy in Oklahoma but was exceedingly smart. Being in NASA was a way to connect with her history.

[25:15] After NASA, Danielle's next internship was at MTV which she disliked quite a bit. She remembers her first day at MTV vividly and the backstabbing nature of the work there.

[28:30] After MTV and a stint at a premier company in London, Danielle moved to Los Angeles to become an actress. Danielle went back to her college for her walking ceremony after graduating early and moving away and it was there that she met Jim Keyes, the former CEO of Blockbuster and 7-11. That chance encounter lead to Danielle pitching Jim on a show about going back to space.

[33:30] They assembled a large team of Dallas entrepreneurs and former astronauts to endorse the project, but fairly quickly ran into trouble. She had a lucky meeting that lead to Danielle finding the producer they are working with now.

[36:35] The show is modeled on the Amazing Race, it's a series of challenges where competitors compete to win the ultimate prize of going to space.

[38:10] Looking back at all the crazy and frustrating things that have happened in her life, Danielle is proud of herself. She got hurt but she didn't fall down, she kept going. Don't listen to the negative things that people say about you, whoever takes the time to bully you online isn't worth paying attention to.

[41:25] Recognize that that kind of thing is a very small moment in your life and there is much more than what the bully is saying. Not everyone thinks that about you, and the ones that matter definitely don't think that way. People are generally very nice in person but behind the computer screen, they can be very cruel.

[43:10] If you're going through that, understand that this is a moment of weakness for someone who is very sad. Take the long term approach, stick to who you are and what's important to you and you'll be fine. 

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