"We're so proud of you because of the history you're making," said Harris.
Last week, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris called the International Space Station to celebrate NASA astronaut Victor Glover's milestone on-orbit spaceflight.
The call released on YouTube by NASA and White House on Saturday (Feb. 27) took place in the midst of the Month of Black History, while Glover is on a six-month space station flight. He is the first Black astronaut to fly to the station in a long time.
"Victor, it's so great to see you," a 3-minute video excited Harris said. "We are so proud of you, the history you make."
As part of NASA's Crew 1 mission, Glover, age 44, launched at the space station in November, together with three other astronauts. His first spaceflight since joining NASA in 2013 is part of the seven-person crew of Expeditions 64.
As the first African-American-based astronaut to fly on a long-time mission to the space station, Harris was the first colorful woman to be elected Vice-President. The astronaut said that his flight was possible only by the astronauts and cosmonauts who came before him to take humanity to its current space exploration point.
On April 12, 60 years of space flight will be celebrated in the world. Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin started in 1961, the first person to fly in space.
"I really appreciate this heritage and try my best to pay tribute to it," said Glover. "I think about the current state of human spaceflight, it's a time for us to celebrate and appreciate."
"But the future of human spaceship, and the fact that this will be the future, is what we will do for the foreseeable future, is what I'm really excited about," Glover said. "That was a first, so yeah. But the only time this is not going to be that it has occurred."
Harris agreed.
"You might be the first thing my mother would say, 'Kamala, but make sure you are not the last thing,'" she said.
On January 27th and February 1st, Harris asked Glover about his spacewalks (he was taking another one today, February 28th) and about how his vision of the Earth from the world allows him to see our planet's challenges.
"It is very apparent to see from here how thin our mood is, how special it is that there is human life on this planet," Glover said from the viewpoint. "There is a lot of fun to see from here." "And so, it makes me want to do everything I can to guard."
"If we dream big, and think big," Harris said, "you inspire us and you remind us of what can be."
Source Space.com Video courtesy NASA.
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