COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) – On Friday, an astronaut reunited with a professor who made a big impact on his life after nearly 30 years apart.
Duane “Digger” Carey and Bill Wallisch met for the first time in 1997 when Wallisch taught public speaking courses at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Digger was one of his students that year.
“NASA expects the astronauts to be the public-facing department for NASA, the public affairs,” Carey said. “We’re the ones, we’re like, a lot of times we’re the spokesmen and stuff like that. People like to hear what the astronauts are saying. Well, most astronauts are not capable of doing that, so for literally, I guess, a few dozen years, they would hire Bill to come down to Houston and teach astronauts a little bit about public speaking.”
Later on in his life, Carey became a fighter pilot and astronaut with the U.S. Air Force, even piloting a mission to the Hubble Telescope in 2002.
After retiring from the U.S. Air Force, Digger switched his focus to motivational speaking – something that he credits Wallisch with teaching him.
“Bill has instructed literally hundreds of astronauts over the years, and I was one of them,” Carey said. “I’m surprised, I’m flattered that he remembered who I was, because I was not a particularly bright student, but I did enjoy his class. I learned some things from Bill.”
After nearly 30 years without seeing each other, Carey spoke at Springs Ranch Memory Care, where the man who taught him his speaking skills was in the audience.
“Bill tried to teach me public speaking many years ago,” Wallisch said. “And I wanted to prove to him today that I actually listened to some of it.”
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