march margo lee shetterly. [applause] i heard you gave an amazing speech last night where you talked a a little bit about charlottesville and race.tt could you give us a little taste what you talked about there, how it compares to what you talk about in the book. >> yeah. the thing that we talked a a little bit about what i started out doing which was working inin investment banking out of school and really when i was growing up that seemed like progress and the future and very protagonist way life, career to have, like very powerful. history for me, it was something that always felt, you know, i think as an african-american, always so heavy and connected to this past which is usually is taught in schools slavery, martin luther king, now there is obama. a very long but extremely narrow arc of history and so during the course of writing hidden figures, what i really came to understand was how powerful it is to be able to tell a story and to write a story and to telt your own story, to be the protagonist in your

margo shetterly, who's here, talked about her writing the book. and, actually, margo is the daughter of bob lee who was an engineer who worked at nasa with me, and so it's like a family affair. katherine, like i said, celebrated her 99th birthday in white sulfur springs, virginia, population 800. no matter what you do, with grit, determination and perseverance, you can do anything you put your mind to. >> host: aubrey, bronx, new york. good afternoon. >> caller: yes. i know -- [inaudible] >> host: i apologize, we're going to have to hang up. i don't think either of us could understand, and i apologize, aubrey, for that. but let's hear from kevin in princeton, new jersey. kevin, we are listening. you're on with astronaut and author leland melvin. >> caller: thank you for taking my call, mr. melvin. question: how soon might a young person begin training academically for a mission in space? and exactly -- or not exactly, but relatively speaking how much mathematics does that program entail? >> guest: so training to become an astronaut starts, i think