Two retired astronauts teach at Mizzou.

If I wasn't going into journalism, I would be an astronaut, so imagine my excitement when I found out TWO former astronauts teach at Mizzou!!!!!

Naturally, I did what any good journalist would do and went to work setting up an interview. I can now say I've spoken to and shaken hands with someone who has been to outer space.

Steven Nagel is currently an instructor and retention specialist with MU's engineering department and was formerly a NASA astronaut. He retired from NASA in July of last year and headed to Mizzou with his wife (also a former astronaut), who got a job with MU's physics department.

Nagel's story isn't one where he was dreaming of being an astronaut since he was just a little kid because when he was "real small there weren't astronauts." NASA's astronaut program didn't begin until he was in junior high (the late 1950s).

"I started thinking about it since at least high school days," Nagel said, adding that his passion for being an astronaut waxed and waned as his career went on.

But the path to becoming an astronaut is not an easy one. You have to be selected by NASA and go through a bunch of training, but even then you're still only just a candidate.

After years of training the big moment came for Nagel to blast off into space.

"The launch is very impressive," Nagel said. "It's about eight and a half minutes, if you want to count that as take off, where the engines are running if you want to get up to almost orbital speed."

All that is pretty AWESOME, but I have already passed the point in my life where I decided to go into journalism rather than astronomy/engineering/physics. I now have to settle for living my dreams vicariously through others, so the big question was, 'What's it like in space?'

"It's a big adventure," Nagel said. "Your whole living surroundings become totally different."

Nagel has been up in space four times for a grand total of about 30 days. His shortest mission was six days and his longest was 10. He said his trips were pretty short, but astronauts that go up to the space station are there for months at a time.

"I was on two science flights where we carried laboratory on each of those flights," Nagel said. "One flight we deployed satellites, communication satellites, and another flight we deployed a scientific observatory, the gamma ray observatory, which is the second in line after the Hubble."

Nagel said although he has been to space several times, he's never been out of the shuttle. All astronauts receive training to go outside of the shuttle, though, in case of problems.

"I didn't really want to hope for a problem to go outside," Nagel said. "You kind of do, but you don't. You don't want problems."

Once the mission is complete, it's time to come back home.

My dreams of going into space will be a reality one day though! Nagel said commercial space flights will be a reality some day soon.