Dr. Eiman Jahangir put his dream “out there in the universe” as an MNPS student many years ago, and this year he made it come true – by exploring a part of the universe very few people have seen.
Jahangir returned this week to Martin Luther King Jr. Academic Magnet High School, where he graduated in 1998, to talk about his recent space flight and help students see how they can achieve their own dreams.
Jahangir, a cardiologist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, flew to space on a Blue Origin New Shepard rocket on Aug. 29, becoming just the 704th person to go to space, he told more than 100 MLK students while wearing his flight suit Wednesday.
The 15-minute suborbital flight, during which Jahangir floated in zero gravity and was amazed by the bright colors of Earth’s surface and the sheer black darkness of space, marked the culmination of a decades-long journey that saw him rejected multiple times by NASA’s astronaut training program, though he was a finalist twice and continues to apply.
He ultimately was selected by MoonDAO, an organization dedicated to accelerating space exploration, to fly on Blue Origin’s 70-foot, reusable rocket.
Seven Steps to Success
With the lessons of that journey in mind, Jahangir showed the students a few videos from his flight and shared seven steps to chasing dreams:
Define Your Dream
“If you don’t define it, you're not going to be able to do it. You have to know what you want to achieve. I had two dreams when I was sitting on these bleachers; I think back then it was a gym. One was to be a doctor, which seemed more practical – not easy, but doable. The other was to become an astronaut.”
Understand Your Origin Story
“Who you are is special, and who you are really helps you go forward in life,” said Jahangir, whose close-knit family moved from Iran to Nashville in 1984, when he was 4. He and his brother, Dr. Alex Jahangir, a 1996 MLK graduate, spent much of their youth volunteering at the Adventure Science Center.
Say it Out Loud to Make it Real
Though he’s not a Buddhist, Jahangir talked about the Buddhist idea of karma and the different levels of energy that come from thinking, saying, and doing something. “It’s one thing to think it, but I really think you have to put it out there in the universe for it to happen. And also, what that ends up doing is it allows other people to support you.”
Remain Flexible to Get Ahead
Jahangir urged students to be OK with failure from time to time. His struggles with NASA didn’t stop him from pursuing a trip to space, and a wildfire that destroyed his family’s home when they were living in California prompted their return to Nashville.
Find Your People
Everyone needs a community of like-minded souls who will support and inspire each other.
Put in the Work
With his NASA dream on hold, Jahangir created his own path to space by taking private training courses, testing flight suits, and going on a simulated mission.
Enjoy the Ride!
“I take joy out of the process of getting there,” he said.
Jahangir and his brother Alex, a Vanderbilt orthopedic trauma surgeon who led Nashville’s COVID response from 2020 to 2022, also spoke to a smaller group of students about their experiences in medicine and space and setting career goals.
“Going into a field that’s science-based, particularly medicine, opens up a lot of doors so that you can do different things,” Eiman Jahangir said.
Alex Jahangir said he downplayed his younger brother’s space dream for a while but was eventually swayed by Eiman's determination.
“About five, six, seven years ago, I do remember I looked at him and said, ‘I don’t know how, but this is going to happen for you,’ because he continued to just push and push and didn’t listen to people like me,” he recalled. “If you want to do big ideas, not just in medicine, you’ve got to think big, and you’ve got to take risks. And that’s much easier said than done.”
