>> The following is a production of WLRN public television.

>> We were going from zero miles per hour on the pad to 17,500 miles per hour in only 8 1/2 minutes.

I always had the bug to fly, I think, even as a young kid.

My first space flight was actually an amazing event, just an absolutely incredible ride.

Nothing else compares to it.

>> Most people only dream of such an out-of-this-world accomplishment like space flight.

But for former NASA astronaut and Miami native Captain Winston Scott, achieving such success did not happen at rocket speed.

In fact, it almost didn't happen at all, as his life was in a completely different trajectory.

♪♪ ♪♪ >> When I was in elementary school, there weren't any programs for students to get them introduced to science, engineering, and technology.

They simply didn't exist, especially in the minority communities.

My community was segregated.

I was always a kid who was interested in technology and science.

I was the kid who was always building something.

I had flashlight batteries and light bulbs and wires.

I was always hooking things up and trying to understand how they worked.

I would open up my toys at Christmastime to see how they worked.

I was always curious about the mechanism.

But there were no programs to introduce us to physics or engineering or science during those years.

In fact, it wasn't until I got to college many years later that I discovered what engineering was all about and began to study it.

But in the early days, I didn't have those opportunities.

>> In the 1950s and '60s, Winston was growing up in a racially segregated Miami, and for him, life was normal.

>> I grew up in the all-black section of Coconut Grove.

Schools were segregated.

All of the businesses and the neighborhoods were segregated.

We had everything we needed in our own neighborhood.

It was a really good childhood.

The community was thriving.

It was clean.

It was safe, relatively safe.

The Grove had its hoodlum element, but it's an interesting thing.

You knew who they were and they knew who you were.

If you didn't bother them, they didn't bother you.

Our schools were excellent.

The teachers were outstanding.

We didn't have really nice equipment.

I can remember in seventh grade my science class and also woodshop.

In those days it was called woodshop or industrial arts.

We didn't have much equipment, so we couldn't build very many things.

But in terms of knowledge and in terms of caring about the students, our teachers were very, very excellent.

>> Winston attended the all-black schools George Washington Carver K-through-12 and Francis Tucker Elementary.

It was in junior high school that he began to explore new activities and interests.

Even if it wasn't his idea.

>> I can remember the band director, Mr. Cooper -- Mr. Phillip Cooper -- coming to our homeroom and asking how many students in here think you might might like to sign up for the band program, learn to play an instrument.

I did not raise my hand.

I wasn't particularly interested in band.

Wasn't not interested, just did not raise my hand.

But, of course, everybody in the black community knew everybody else.

Mr. Cooper looked at me and says, "Scott, don't you want to sign up for band?"

And I was raised in such a way that you did not argue.

You didn't dispute an adult.

If an adult said something to you, it was "yes, sir" or "no, sir."

So I said, "Yes, sir, Mr. Cooper, I will sign up for band."

♪♪ Well, that particular day in question, we had an assembly program, and the high school jazz band performed.

And when I heard that band perform, man, something lit up inside of me, and I caught fire and I knew I wanted to be a musician.

So I started taking playing my trumpet very seriously.

My father scraped together enough money to buy a trumpet.

He made it clear to me that "this trumpet is your Christmas present for the next 25 years, your birthday present for the next 15 years, your childhood present for the next 40-something years."

His message to me was "I worked hard to scrape together the money for this trumpet, and you're going to play it."

He didn't have to worry because I fell in love with it and played it and did very, very well.

I discovered actually a talent, a gift for music.

I started taking lessons in seventh grade, seventh grade band.

By eighth grade, I was writing music and the band was actually performing some of the music that I wrote.

♪♪ In ninth grade, I was singing with Billy Rolle.

Billy Rolle was another of our teachers in Coconut Grove.

Billy Rolle was a coach but also an outstanding musician.

Billy Rolle had directed jazz bands of his own.

Well, I can remember by ninth grade, I was good enough I actually played with Billy Rolle's band.

If he needed a trumpet player, he'd come to my house and get me to play a gig.

And because I was only in ninth grade, he'd have to talk to my dad.

So I can remember some nights.

I'm sitting in the living room.

Mr. Rolle would come by and say, "Mr. Scott, can Winston go play a job with us?"

And my dad would say, "Yeah, what time are you gonna be done?

It's a school night tonight."

He said, "Yeah, it's gonna be done at such-and-such a time."

And I would be paid and so on.

So music was a big part of my life.

I was very, very good at it and learned to play jazz by singing in with some of the professional jazz musicians of the day there in Coconut Grove.

>> In 1965, federal courts mandated the integration of public schools.

For Winston, that meant transferring from Carver to Coral Gables High School.

>> We're finding that the courts are requiring that there be a racial balance of faculties in all of the schools.

We're finding that the courts are saying that freedom of choice is not enough.

The children should not have to make the decision where they're going to school but rather the school board should make that decision.

And we're finding that the courts are starting to order special programs of education to help Negro students who have attended all-Negro schools in the past to overcome the inadequacies of the education they've received.

>> We were excited about going, and our parents began to prepare us for it over the course of the year and told us what a good thing it was going to be, how they had fought for so long to achieve integration, and now that integration is here, let's do it.

The schools would be better equipped, you'd get a better education because of the facilities, the equipment, and we were excited about going.

♪♪ When I grew up in my all-black section of Coconut Grove, I only -- I was only aware of black students and white students.

But Coral Gables High School, I got to know the Cuban students 'cause we had Cuban kids that we grew up with, Jewish students, students from all ethnic groups, and it was really a relatively peaceful transition.

Now, emotionally, it was a little bit different because the whole culture was different.

The band music that we played was different.

Rather than playing Sam & Dave, like I did at Carver, we were playing the Beatles, you know, and "Sgt.

Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band."

So it was a little bit different, but again, it was -- it was a broadening experience.

It broadened our horizons, certainly broadened my horizon and broadened my perspective.

Coral Gables High School was a giant school compared to our Carver school.

The Gables was somewhere around 3,000 students, and the campus was big, it was elaborate, it was well-equipped, it was comfortable.

The Gables was what I had envisioned a college would be like as opposed to a high school.

♪♪ One of the things that I was delighted to do was be accepted into the Gables Band of Distinction.

The Band of Distinction is one of the finest marching band programs in the country.

It was run by a legendary band director by the name of Bill Ledue.

The school was so big, we actually had two bands.

The top band was called the Band of Distinction, and then you had a band called the Cavalier Band, and the Band of Distinction was by audition only.

I auditioned and got into the Band of Distinction in my sophomore year.

But it was a very difficult time because I was the only black student in this traditionally all-white band.

It was a big adjustment that had to be made.

>> The band program and its director, Bill Ledue, had a profound influence on Winston and laid the foundation for his life's journey.

>> Bill Ledue was fair.

He didn't give me anything special.

In fact, when I got out of line, which I did on occasion, I got demerits, I was suspended from band and some, but when I did well, he rewarded me.

He rewarded everybody.

But when I did not do what I was supposed to, there were consequences to pay.

He was a very, very fair individual, and fairness is all anybody can ask for.

>> In his junior year, Winston's attitude towards school and the extracurricular activities had shifted.

>> All I can say is that I was just so unhappy that junior year that I felt like I could just drop out of school and just not even go back.

And some of my friends had dropped out, some of the people that grew up in Coconut Grove.

Remember, I grew up in the hood, so to speak.

It was unfortunate, but some students just dropped out of school and went to work or did other things.

I knew dropping out of school was not going to cut it 'cause my dad would have killed me.

Education was primary and foremost in my family, and I knew that that wasn't going to cut it.

But it was a very, very difficult year from an emotional standpoint.

I was, uh... suspended from the band.

You know, I would not go to rehearsal or not do what I was supposed to do, and Mr. Ledue would suspend me -- suspend me from the band.

But somewhere along the line, I guess maybe towards the end of my junior year, I decided that I got to straighten up, you know?

This is -- This is not going to make it.

I have my future in front of me and opportunities in front of me.

I really need to turn to pull myself up and begin to do the best that I could because my future was at stake.

And oddly enough, Mr. Ledue, by rights, could have told me not to come back again, you know?

"I don't want you back in the band because you just don't cooperate.

You're just --" But he didn't do that.

He said, "Sign up and come on back."

And I came back into the band and made my mind up that I was going to do the best that I could.

And I wound up enjoying it.

Not only that, but he was true to his word.

I was section leader.

I was solo trumpet.

And he just did all the things that he promised he would do if I did what I would do.

A lot of people -- instructors -- would have written me off.

You know, "he's a troublemaker.

He's not worth it.

I don't need him.

I've got all these others."

But Mr. Ledue did not do that.

>> Mr. Ledue's continued support of Winston's talent led him to suggest a new opportunity, but in spite of the talent, rejection followed.

>> Encouraging me and setting up an appointment for me to audition for the Miami Youth Symphony.

Well, I drove down.

I went down to the University of Miami where I met with the person with whom I was auditioning.

Played my music and so on and left and went back home and subsequently found out that I was not accepted to the Youth Symphony.

Okay, it didn't bother me.

Honestly I did expect to be accepted.

When you grow up in a black neighborhood, you're kind of used to rejection, you know?

You apply for something and you don't get it.

So it's no big deal to me.

And I went and told Mr. Ledue that I auditioned and I was not selected, and he didn't make too many comments but just kind of let it go.

Bill Ledue would not have sent me down there if I were not talented enough to be in the Youth Symphony.

And as I think back on it now, the person that was listening to my audition -- just going through the motions.

He didn't really care.

I can see it very clearly.

He didn't care what I played or how I sounded.

So here again, Mr. Ledue was trying to do something good for a student he thought deserved it and it didn't work out.

>> This kind of rejection would surface again when Mr. Ledue encouraged Winston to apply to Florida State University.

>> Florida State, even to this day, is one of the finest colleges of music in the country.

I did apply to FSU.

And I was not selected.

I was not accepted.

And I was embarrassed and ashamed and I didn't tell Mr. Ledue at first that I was not accepted.

He would ask me every day or so, "Have you heard from FSU?"

[ Laughs ] I would say, "No, I haven't heard from them yet."

But I had heard from them.

I just hadn't been acc-- Well, you can only keep that charade up so long.

Finally one day he asked me, "Have you heard from FSU?"

I said, "Yes, sir, I have, and I was not accepted to FSU."

He didn't blink an eye, didn't hesitate.

He just said, "Come with me."

And I followed him out of the rehearsal hall through the hallway into his office.

We walked into the outer foyer.

He said, "Wait here."

He went into the inner office, closed the door.

I could see through the glass panel in the door.

I could see him but I couldn't hear what was going on.

He picked up the telephone.

In those days, it was an old corded phone, and he dialed, and he was talking on the phone, and his head was nodding.

I could see his lips moving.

At one point, he stopped, opened the door.

He said, "Do you still have a B average?"

I said, "Yes, sir."

[ Laughs ] I really probably had a B/C average or whatever, but he closed the door again.

I could see his head nodding, lips moving.

Put the phone down, opened -- he said, "Okay, you can go to class."

I went to class.

And maybe two days later, I received a notice that said, "You are hereby accepted to Florida State University."

Well, that blew my mind.

I never heard of such a thing.

We, African-Americans, are used to being rejected from something.

We're not used to people going to bat for us and we getting something that says, "You are hereby selected."

If there is a key, pivotal moment in my life, that was it, when Mr. Ledue made that phone call because FSU exposed me to things that I probably would not have been exposed to had I attended an HBCU.

I probably would not have been exposed to engineering and not developed that desire for aviation and to give that a try.

FSU, again, it broadened my perspective.

It opened up some things for me.

Even though I was majoring in music, I was exposed to other things, and that got me thinking along the lines of technology and engineering, which led me to the Navy, to flight program, to an engineering degree, to the Astronaut Corps.

I can truthfully say that had Mr. Ledue not made that phone call, I probably would not have ever flown in space.

>> In college, Winston was beginning to understand that his childhood passion for science and technology could be a dream realized.

So he began to do something about it.

>> I was attempting to do a double major, but there was no way I was going to be able to finish an engineering degree and a music degree and get out in four years.

I had to get out and go to work, you know?

I couldn't just keep going to school forever and a day.

So I was trying to decide how can I continue my university education in engineering.

You know, what's the method to do that?

And, again, I had no guidance, no one to sit down with and direct me.

It suddenly occurred to me that the military will send you to school.

I had heard that, you know, G.I.

Bill and things like that.

So maybe the military might be a way to go.

The Vietnam War was going on at the time.

There were protests against the war, unrest across the country, civil rights was going on.

So for a person to voluntarily go into the military at that time was kind of foreign.

Nevertheless, the more I thought about the military, the more it began to tug at me from down inside.

I kind of felt like that was a thing I needed to do.

That was the way I needed to go.

Well, then the next question was if I go into the military, what would I do?

Airplanes are cool.

Maybe I'll be a pilot.

[ Laughs ] Who has airplanes?

Well, Air Force.

That's logical.

Drove to the Air Force recruiter's office, and they gave me this battery of tests.

The battery of tests they give you is for people like me who have no ROTC, no background in military.

You just sort of wander in off the streets.

They give you this battery of tests to determine whether or not they're going to even spend time on you.

I took about a half day to take this long battery of tests, and the Air Force was taking so long to respond.

I wasn't hearing anything back.

Then all of a sudden something clicked again and something says Navy.

I said, "The Navy has airplanes."

And then I thought, "Man, the Navy, those guys must be good because they fly off ships."

So I got in my car, drove down to the Navy recruiter's office.

I said, "Tell me about the flight program."

The Navy gave me a battery of tests.

Also took about a half day, and because I had taken all that calculus and physics and things at FSU, I did well on those tests.

Navy sent my name in.

And they said, "You are hereby accepted to Naval Aviation Officer Candidate School."

I was sworn in and was off to Pensacola.

>> Once accepted to Aviation Officers Candidate School, Winston began months of intense academic and military training before attending flight school.

>> The first plane that I flew was, as a naval aviation officer candidate, in the back seat -- or the front seat actually of a T-34.

That's the little Navy basic trainer that they used in those days to train pilots.

And the T-34 is a little two-seat, fore and aft seating, propeller-driven airplane.

The first flight was a little bit uncomfortable but it was also thrilling, and I knew, at the end of that flight, in spite of my stomach discomfort, I had made the right decision and I was in the right place, that is military aviation training.

>> Winston became a U.S.

Naval aviator and captain, finally able to complete a Master of Science degree in aeronautical engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School.

His naval career spanned 27 years.

Among his impressive job duties, Captain Scott served as a production test pilot at the Naval Air Station in Jacksonville and later as the Deputy Director of the Tactical Aircraft Systems Department at the Naval Air Development Center in Pennsylvania.

As a research and development project pilot, he flew the F-14 Tomcat... F/A-18 Hornet... and A-7 Corsair aircraft.

His military flight experiences accumulated more than 5,000 hours of flight time in 20 different military and civilian aircraft.

All of this would lead to the biggest endeavor yet -- being selected by NASA to become an astronaut.

>> Just being selected as an astronaut is a life-changing event in and of itself.

It really does alter your life, the lives of your family members, your friends, your acquaintances.

It affects so many people.

But it really comes home -- it becomes reality when you're on the launch pad and you actually launch into space.

That is the true test.

And it's an interesting phenomenon.

You've been training for space flight for years, and finally you get your chance, and things come alive at seven seconds before lift-off because that's actually when the space shuttle main engines would ignite.

So you've been lying on your back for three hours or thereabout.

Then, all of a sudden, at seven seconds... >> Go for main engine start.

We have main engine start.

>> The engines begin to ignite.

The rocket is coming alive.

It's shaking and vibrating.

There's smoke and fire billowing up around the front windscreen.

And just when you're about to ask yourself, "Aren't we supposed to be going someplace?," the clock hits zero, the solid rocket boosters ignite, and you jump off the pad, and it surprised me on my first flight because when you watch rockets on TV or in the movies, even in reality, in real life, they appear to float off the pad.

They're so big, they appear to float up in slow motion.

In reality, they jump off the pad.

It kicks you in the backside, and it's shaking and vibrating.

You pass 100 miles per hour before you clear the tower.

You roll kind of upside down and then rocket off of over the horizon, and we pass Mach 1 in roughly 45 seconds, and it just continues to accelerate.

It never stops accelerating until you reach orbit.

I remember, on my first flight, being surprised at how quickly it came off the pad, but then, being exhilarated about what I'm doing but also being focused on my job.

We launched at night.

So it was dark outside, obviously.

But about halfway through the ascent, I could look out in the front windows and see the day half of the Earth approaching because we were going from zero miles per hour on the pad to 17,500 miles per hour in only 8 1/2 minutes.

We went from darkness.

Again, I could see the daylight approaching as we were going around the Earth, just an absolutely incredible ride.

Nothing else compares to it.

As I look back on my life, I believe my destiny from Day 1 was to go into space.

I think that's why I was put here, and I fulfilled that.

I think I was in touch with myself and had a good sense of who I was before ever going into space.

But I think going into space fulfilled my purpose for being here on Earth, and I think what I'm supposed to be doing now, at least partly, is using those experiences to help others, to inspire people, especially young people, inspire them to follow their dreams, inspire them to reach and go as high as they possibly can in their chosen profession.

I think that's what I'm supposed to be doing right now.

>> Winston continued to be involved in aerospace aviation and education.

It is here, in the heart of Florida's Space Coast region, at the Florida Institute of Technology, that he lends his talent helping and inspiring students achieve their dreams in a career in aviation.

>> My first four years here was Dean of the College of Aeronautics, and this organization here, FIT Aviation, reports to Florida Tech College of Aeronautics.

I directed -- was the dean for four years.

Then Dr. Catanese says he grew and expanded the college, creating the position of external relations.

My academic duties are a professor of aeronautics and also a professor of music.

>> Having overcome challenges and being aware of those who have had a profound influence on his life and career, Winston knows that it is his duty to pay it forward.

>> I think mentorship is very, very important, and it's important to me personally and it's something that I've always tried to do.

I was aware at a young age how I was mentored by other people.

I mentioned Bill Ledue, but he's not the only one.

There are many, many people in my community and my schools that were good mentors to me, and I've always known the importance of trying to give back.

And from a very early age, whenever I was in a position to help those who were younger than me come along, I tried to do so, again, with the Boy Scouts, with the Boys Club, also at Florida State University, being a music student, being a member of the Black Student Union and other clubs and organizations, whenever there's an opportunity to help people, and not just black people but help anybody that needed help, I also tried to do that, and I continue to do that to this day.

None of us are successful alone.

We all stand on other people's shoulders.

We all had people to lift us up and booster us and help move us forward, and it's our responsibility to pay that back.

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