NASA astronaut gives wholesome advice to little boy bullied for his space-themed outfits

We all have passions that light up our world. Yet, sometimes, sharing what we love can open us up to ridicule from others. In a heart-wrenching TikTok video, Meg (@macochiquito0) cradles her little brother, tears streaming down her face. The text overlay reveals how the little boy threw away all of his shirts that had astronauts and planets on them because his classmates said that they were stupid. The video gained traction and got the attention of Vanessa—who goes by @thevanessahernandez on TikTok—the daughter of Mexican-American astronaut Jose Hernandez.

She stitched her video with Meg's and revealed that she wanted to say a few words to the young boy. Her father begins by saying, "I wanna tell you that you should still keep wearing your clothes that have space rockets and planets." Hernandez went on to highlight how he would never have gone to space if he listened to his friends who told him that it was a dumb idea. Even though he flew on the Discovery space shuttle, the journey leading up to that was not at all easy.

Hernandez revealed that NASA rejected him 11 times and he only got in on the 12th attempt. He says, "I never gave up. Even though my friends said it was a silly idea, I just kept going forward, forward, forward." The astronaut told the boy that he should never be afraid of wearing his space-themed clothes and should instead be proud of them. He wholesomely concluded the video by saying, "And hopefully, if you study hard, I'll see you working at NASA with me. Take care. Okay, bye."

People loved the heartfelt advice that the astronaut gave the little boy and chimed in with their thoughts in the comments section. @readtoflith said, "I would literally cry if an astronaut sent me a video hyping me up." @gracemasters3 commented, "Trusting the algorithm to bring me back in 12+ years when Meg's brother is working at NASA with Jose." @andreamdo13 expressed, "As an aerospace engineer, this makes my heart happy."

Astronauts have been where very few people have. Apollo 11's landing on the surface of the moon on July 21st, 1969, proved to be a revolutionary and pivotal point in human history. While Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong have become household names, most people will be interested to know that Aldrin penned a letter to a professor in which he described his emotions during the landing. The letter came about on the website Letters of Note in 2017.

Aldrin addressed the letter to Barry Goldman, a professor at the University of Maryland. The letter intended to "share some of his ideas and thoughts about his experiences related to the moon landing." He provided a detailed explanation about the moon and how he realized that they had set a new milestone in human exploration. Aldrin also took a couple of photos that he can look back upon and think about how it was a "trip of a lifetime." He signed off his letter, saying, "Ad Astra via Mars," hinting at how humans would explore Mars in the future.