Becoming Eiman
Astronaut-Cardiologist Dr Eiman Jahangir’s Passion for Medicine and Space comes from the Heart
“Remember that wherever your heart is, there you will find your treasure.”
Paulo Coehlo, The Alchemist
The call to space is something unique to every astronaut.
Vanderbilt University Associate Professor Dr Eiman Jahangir’s love affair with rockets began very early, when he was a preschooler growing up in a war-torn Iran at the peak of the Iran-Iraq war.
Starting at a very young age, as a toddler, Eiman learned to look for rockets flying overhead that carried bombs, often while he, his brother, and their parents raced for the safety of bomb shelters.
The thing is, despite the danger they presented, Eiman loved the rockets. Flying across the sky unbelievably fast, the rockets caught the young boy’s budding passion for the wonder of science. In fact, they were mesmerizing to him. To a child naturally fascinated with the world around them, rockets just stood out. They were special. To Eiman, rockets were akin to miracles.
His father and his mother, a doctor and a geologist, respectively, were less fascinated by the technology of rockets but they were more acutely aware of the danger they and the war represented to Eiman, his slightly older brother Alex, and their young family. Many of Eiman’s family’s relatives had already migrated aborad and to the US, including his father’s own parents.
Which is how it came to pass, just before he turned 5 years old, the tight-knit family of four immigrated from a tumultuous and uncertain Tehran, Iran to a placid and easy-going Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
Living in America
In Tennessee, Eiman found his true home. First of all, there were no bomb shelters nor was there ever a need to find one. Even better to a healthy and active young child like Eiman, there was wide open green space with lots of grass and trees, and plenty of room to run and play. What more, Eiman’s parents had other Iranian-American family there, too, family who were happy to welcome Eiman and his family to the appreciated safety and tranquility of Tennessee.
“It was like moving from New York City to Green Acres,” recounts Jahangir.
Simply put, Eiman fell in love with America, his new home.
Young Boy, Big Heart
Yet the transition from Iran to the US had its own real challenges. His mom the trained geologist took different jobs to make ends meet, eventually settling on bank teller. And one of the things Eiman distinctly remembers from that time was the additional workload his father took on to become certified and re-credentialed in this country as a medical doctor.
Realizing the effect and impact of life’s challenges on those around him became one of young Eiman Jahangir’s earliest-forming character traits. The grownup he has become today remembers his caring as even a young child, and always looking for ways to be a help.
Witnessing first-hand the extra work his father committed to in order to regain his doctor’s credentials in the US had even more impact on Eiman’s developing world view and self-opinion. His experiences, his empathy, and his careful consideration of the world around him had begun to shape who and what the thoughtful boy would aspire to become.
Yet who could have known that within two years time, the two single-most defining moments of Eiman Jahangir’s life would be behind him.
Becoming Eiman: Part 1, the Astronaut
Two years after moving to the US, now a proper 6-year old Nashvillian, Eiman traveled with his family to visit to Huntsville, Alabama, aka “Rocket City”, and home to one of his first loves. Rockets.
It was in Huntsville that the thoughtful Nashville boy from Tehran had his understanding of rockets reconfigured and flipped rightside-up as it were.
At the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, standing there under the incomprehensibly massive Saturn V rocket on display, young Eiman was introduced to a most important truth.
Eiman already understood that rockets can go up. But what he learned in Huntsville is that rockets can go up and carry people.
And where rockets can go, and where they could carry people, was to space.
It was right there on that spot, in the USA, in Huntsville, Alabama, and standing beneath a full-size Saturn V rocket — with his parents explaining every question he and his brother Alex could conceive — Eiman Jahangir, age 6, began picturing himself going to space aboard a rocket.
Becoming Eiman: Part 2, the Cardiologist
When he was 8 years old, already on a course for a life that was bigger than most, Eiman’s mother’s father, his grandfather, came to the US for heart bypass surgery in Nashville.
The surgery itself went well but the other most self-defining event of Eiman’s life was about to take place.
After the scheduled surgery, his grandfather developed atrial fibrillation, an abnormal heart rhythm. This was 1988, and today’s common practice of putting patients on blood thinners for such a condition had yet to be realized.
So it was that two days after heart surgery, Eiman’s mother’s father, his Iranian grandfather, had a large stroke.
His grandfather, whom Eiman had only just met for the first time in his life since leaving Iran as a four-year old was left crushingly debilitated. The next time Eiman saw his grandfather, who on their first meeting a week earlier had been a robust and active man, he was bedridden and unable to take care of himself. Worst of all to Eiman, his grandfather could no longer speak.
Upon his grandfather’s return to their Nashville home after the stroke, seeing the condition his grandfather was now in, seeing how his own mother and grandmother selflessly sprang into action, Eiman also observed the toll all of it took on his parents emotionally. They were crushed.
Being present to the sadness and heartache of his parents, beholding his now-frail grandfather with whom he had barely had a chance to strike up a relationship with, there was only one thing that went through Eiman’s mind:
He wanted to be able to help, to cure, to prevent, and he didn’t know how.
But not knowing how was not going to stop Eiman. He had already seen rockets, seen war, seen his parents face uncertain odds in another country and seen it work out.
Most importantly, he had seen his dad re-learn how to be a doctor.
Right then is when Eiman decided he would learn how to help.
He would learn to be a doctor, too. And not just any doctor.
Eiman Jahangir was going to become a cardiologist.
Finding his People
For many, high school is a time of confusion, turmoil, and uncertainty. As it turned out, this was not the case for Eiman. Preceded by Alex, Eiman was selected in the lottery to attend Martin Luther King, Jr. Magnet at Pearl High School.
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Pearl High School in Nashville is a historic US school. In a word, it is legendary. Founded in the 1920’s, Pearl High School was the only high school available to African-American students in middle Tennessee.
In 1986, the Nashville School Board re-opened the school’s doors as Martin Luther King, Jr. Magnet High School for the Health Sciences and Engineering.
It was at this school in the mid-1990’s where Eiman Jahangir found the perfect environment to grow his dual passions of space and medicine.
A bastion for students of diverse backgrounds, cultures, and ethnicities, Martin Luther King, Jr. Magnet at Pearl High School was the academic embodiment of Eiman’s vision for his own place in the world.
“In my years at primary school, there were mostly kids who were at school because they had to be,” remembers Jahangir. “At Martin Luther King, Jr. Magnet, I found other students with passions for school subjects from every background. What united all of us was simply a love of learning and an excitement about the future. This was the absolute best environment for me and I just prospered. I had found my people.”
Impressively, Martin Luther King, Jr. Magnet at Pearl High School has a 100% graduation rate, and a similarly impressive college placement success rate. So it was for Eiman. Beyond this and like his brother Alex, Eiman graduated high school and then immediately went on to college to get his Bachelor of Science.
As his brother yet again, Eiman earned his college degree in three years.
A Brother for All Seasons
By the time, Eiman Jahangir started high school, he had already discovered his legitimate love for science. (As the astronaut-cardiologist puts it today, “Science was my jam.”) With the support of loving parents, preceded by his brother Alex, Eiman’s love for medicine and space became his focus.
The boys’ mother being a scientist and their dad being a doctor made their studying and discussing of science and the natural world a regular part of their daily lives.
Yet carrying a lamp to light the path to his astronaut-cardiologist future was the best ally Eiman could possibly have, his older brother Alex.
Two years older than Eiman, Alex was the first to focus on science and medicine. As the oldest of the two brothers, Alex had followed in his father’s and mother’s footsteps. From an early age, in school, in sports, and in life, Alex became Eiman’s role model — and a gauge of success.
Eyes transfixed on rockets, a mind preoccupied with science fiction and video games, and with a heart captured by love for his family, Eiman was a self-starter who now lived in friendly competition with his brother. “Being older, on the ballfield Alex was the better athlete,” Dr Jahangir explains, “But in the classroom is where I could give him a run for his money.”
Being a close family who held themselves to high professional standards, Alex made academic excellence his objective and in turn he set the standard for a close-on-his-heals Eiman. Through their years at high school and then on into university, the brothers made the pursuit of their parallel goals into a friendly game. They incessantly worked to cheer one another on while taking on similar challenges and pursuing kindred ends.
For Eiman, Alex Jahangir set the bar of the goals he might attain. For Alex, Eiman was a worthy equal and an excellent measure of his own successes.
In Iran, in the USA, in University, and then on into adulthood and as medical doctors, Alex and Eiman Jahangir supported and challenged one another to be the best versions of themselves.
Intent on making a difference, inspired by the life and careers of their parents, and on a path forward in medicine and academic accomplishment that had been laid by his beloved brother Alex, it was no surprise to anyone when Eiman followed his brother to medical school as well. They were even roommates.
However, a out-of-this-world surprise was on the horizon.
NASA Astronaut Finalist
In 2005, at age 24, in his final year of medical school, Eiman Jahangir, his brother Alex, and their parents traveled to Florida together to visit the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral.
It was at Kennedy Space Center that it happened.
“I remembered I wanted to be an astronaut,” says Jahangir. “Not only that, I remembered exactly how much I wanted to be an astronaut. Specifically, what I remembered visiting Kennedy Space Center is how much I really wanted to be an astronaut.”
Back at the hotel after their day at Kennedy Space Center (this being pre-smart phones), Jahangir accessed the internet and went to NASA’s website to review the qualifications necessary for applying to be an astronaut.
“As it turned out, medical doctor was on the list,” recounts the cardiologist, “So mentally I began making plans.”
In 2007, NASA put out a call for the next class of astronauts.
Filling out the essay portion of the application, Eiman Jahangir (now Doctor Eiman Jahangir) shared his aspirations to be an astronaut with his brother Alex, also now Doctor Jahangir.
His brother thought it was silly and unlikely but also told Eiman to “go for it”. And so he did.
Famously now, Eiman Jahangir was selected as a finalist.
As soon as Eiman got selected to be a finalist in the NASA selection process, his brother moved from ambivalently supportive to being all in.
“I remember when my brother learned I had been selected as a finalist. I think [Alex] was almost as excited as I was.”
While Eiman Jahangir eventually did not wind up being selected, from then on his brother Alex would be one of his biggest supporters for going to space as a doctor-astronaut.
Even more importantly, however, is another outcome that happened as a consequence of his NASA application process.
In 2007 at the time he was writing his NASA application Eiman had met a woman and started dating. She would help edit his application.
She would also become his wife, Amber Solivan.
Space from the Heart
While Eiman and Amber are largely private people — “Hearing personal details of thousands of patients will have that effect on you,” the cardio-oncologist pragmatically relates — there is a single story that beautifully illustrates what epidemiologist Amber Solivan means to the becoming of astronaut-cardiologist Dr Eiman Jahangir.
This story is not from the first finalist selection and rejection by NASA. It is from the second.
In 2013, Eiman again made it to be a NASA astronaut selectee finalist, and, for a second time, he was rejected.
He refers to this moment as the low point of his journey to space.
“I had hyped myself up,” tells Eiman. “I figured if I made it to be selected as a finalist again that they really want me. I mean why would they invite me this far if they weren’t going to pick me.”
“But,” he quickly adds, “I was wrong.”
When he got the call and the news it was a devastating moment. Soon after he learned he had been rejected by NASA for a second time, the first person he called with the news was also now his wife, Amber.
At that time, Amber had been doing post-grad work at Tulane and accordingly the couple had since relocated to New Orleans.
Arriving home that night, Amber greeted him at the door.
“When I got home, Amber simply said, ‘I made reservations. We are going out to eat. At Cochon,’” Eiman recalls.
Cochon of course being the Cochon Restaurant. Authentic Cajun flavors prepared with traditional methods, Cochon is known for traditional Cajun Southern dishes, and fresh, locally sourced produce, seafood, and pork. Famously and for good reason, Cochon is a beloved New Orleans culinary institution.
The rest of that evening is a love story built around a meal.
“So Cochon’s this restaurant in New Orleans. It’s that rich New Orleans cooking, buttery oils, delicious. It’s a more expensive restaurant so it’s not like somewhere we would have gone often. But she took me and I remember I had the pork shoulder. It was the special and it was delicious. I can still savor that shoulder from that meal to this day.”
To this day, indeed. Today, the two live in Nashville with their two young children, Darius, age 9, and Aylah, age 2.
“[Amber and I] have been through house fires, NASA rejections, multiple cross-country moves and living overseas, and two unforgettable birthing processes. She impacts every decision I make, every job I take and keep. She is supportive everything I do and 99.9% of everything I do is because of her. Amber is my confidant and my best friend. She is my rock.”
Enter MoonDAO
In 2024, after two decades of training, striving, and application processes, Dr Eiman Jahangir had been selected to be an astronaut.
“Immediately after I got the news I had been selected,” shares Eiman, “I made two calls. First, I called [Amber] to share the amazing news. Next, I texted [Alex] to see if he was in his office downstairs at our hospital. He was and I texted him I was on my way. As soon as I told him he was up on his feet and we were both jumping up and down and cheering like we were kids. After my wife, Alex is my best friend and biggest supporter.”
Eiman would be flying to space with commercial launch provider Blue Origin on their New Shepard rocket. And his sponsor? MoonDAO.
MoonDAO is a successful human spaceflight accelerator whose goal is for humankind to migrate to the moon. Employing a new model of funding built on blockchain and cryptocurrency, Eiman Jahangir would be the second astronaut the “decentralized autonomous organization” (DAO) sent to space. The first had been YouTuber Coby Cotton of Dude Perfect.
Having stayed the process through MoonDAO’s first astronaut selection of Coby Cotton/Dude Perfect, then becoming a standout in the second selection process, Eiman’s expectations going in had been optimistic, well-grounded, and, in the end, successful.
During the MoonDAO selection, Eiman stayed focused. With a practiced attention developed both as a doctor and astronaut trainee, he never took his eyes off the prize. And so it was that in the end, his diligence paid off.
Forty years after falling in love with rockets, with family, with his wife, Dr Eiman Jahangir was going to space.
Blue Origin NS-26
The scene is West Texas. There is dust. It’s hot. And there are people, some of whom have been to space. Most importantly, in the foreground is a single, slender, white rocket with an unmistakeable giant Blue feather emblazoned on its side.
At this very moment, Blue Origin’s New Shepard Suborbital Rocket Ship is occupied by future visitors to space, and it is ready for launch.
Ready may be an understatement. For anyone who has seen it in person, New Shepard is like a slender Transformer-type robot barely able to restrain itself from jumping off the pad and up to the sky where it belongs. Standing there patiently on Launch Pad One, New Shepard is clearly demonstrating its own very good manners.
In the Texas setting the rocket evokes the once free-roaming Texas mustang. Like the wild horse that once roamed this countryside, New Shepard somehow belongs in the setting of the surrounding mesa. Yet there is simply no question: New Shepard is a spaceship ready to fly.
Which is perfect — because Blue Origin is a real rider’s spaceship company, and New Shepard is a rocket for real space cowboys.
One of the cowboys on the rocket today is a starry-eyed Nashville boy from Tehran, now a full-grown man and doctor of a medicine and cardiologist, about to be an astronaut, Dr Eiman Jahangir.
One Giant Leap for Eimankind
A person would not be faulted for imagining that after forty years of his dreaming about rockets that the countdown clock for Dr Eiman Jahangir’s launch to space would proceed slowly. Or in the very least, as a courtesy, that the moment would somehow linger.
But, as it must be known by every person who has ever had such a big dream come true, slow is not how a countdown clock proceeds at all.
In fact, according to Dr Eiman Jahangir himself, how it actually proceeded was one second the countdown had just begun, and somehow, in what seemed like the very next second, NS-26 was off the ground and headed to space.
There was hardly even any time for self-reflection.
Iran. Nashville. College. Kennedy Space Center. NASA. Marriage. Training. Having a family. Countdown. Launch.
One second, Eiman is a four-year old seeing that first rocket, and the next second just forty years later, Eiman is suddenly an astronaut in space looking down upon the Earth.
After forty years of dreaming, following his heart, and hard work, after even making it to a finalist in NASA’s astronaut selection process not once but twice, at last it had finally happened.
Just like that, like the flipping of a light switch, Dr Eiman Jahangir had become an astronaut.
