Michael Foreman
Michael Foreman
Michael James Foremanis a retired U.S. Navy pilot and a NASA astronaut. While with NASA, Forman was part of a mission that delivered the Japanese Experiment Module and the Canadian Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator to the International Space Station. Foreman was also a crewmember of the STS-129 mission in November 2009...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionAstronaut
Date of Birth29 March 1957
CityColumbus, OH
dormant experience fed ingredient laying reasons share trying
The seed of an idea laying dormant in an old sketchbook is fed the missing ingredient from a new experience. Trying to share some of these experiences, some of the wonders, is one of the reasons why I do books.
came concerns happening knew life stories
When I started writing and illustrating, I knew little of classic children's literature. My stories came from real life, from my concerns about what was happening in the world.
bit felt gave people uneasy
I've done a bit of teaching, but I gave it up - I felt uneasy teaching illustration to people who hadn't yet learned to draw.
capturing essence
Things have to be believable, not in a literal, photographic sense, but in an emotional sense - capturing the essence of the situation.
forms friendship henry sailor tells true unusual
My book 'Ali Pasha' tells the true story of a young sailor Henry Friston, who, in the hell-fire of battle, forms an unusual friendship.
age dive drawing early front laying life loved marching
From an early age, I had always loved drawing. Laying on the floor, in front of the fire, drawing from my imagination, marching soldiers, dive bombers, spaceships and monsters. Now, suddenly, I was drawing from real life!
age army contract dad death die early eventually joined lied stages trenches
On the death of his brothers, my dad lied about his age and joined the army in 1918. He was in the trenches long enough to be gassed and contract the early stages of tuberculosis from which he would eventually die just before my birth.
along easiest meet none
I have been lucky with writers. None have been real trouble. Some I never met. Some I meet only after the book is finished, and some, the easiest to get along with, are the dead ones. Most become friends.
area city coming exploring land people recycling rubbish saw survived
When coming in to land at Santiago, Chile, I saw the area between the city and the Andes mountains was smoking with rubbish dumps. While exploring the dumps, I made friends with people living and working there and saw how they survived through recycling the rubbish.
dreamt good life spend
Drawing was the only thing I was any good at in school, but I never dreamt I would, or even could, spend my life doing it.
properly teaches
Drawing teaches you to look at things properly and to understand form and structure.
became nature possible second travelling
For me, travelling and drawing the world, experiencing as much as possible first hand, has been very important. Making notes, drawing and writing on the move, became second nature.
bus came cigarettes cups desire fantastic growing inspired legs shop travel troops worst
Before I could walk, my world was a world of legs - soldiers' legs, sailors' legs, bus drivers' legs and, worst of all, little old ladies' legs. Growing up in the shop was fantastic - American GIs, Poles, Czechs, Australians, troops from all over the world came to our shop for cigarettes and cups of tea and inspired my desire to travel the world.
classics fairy hung tales until
I never read any fairy tales or classics until I was an adult; all we ever had was comics... No television, either. If we wanted entertainment, we hung around the fish shop.