CATCHING UP WITH

Dr. Daniel Hohman

STORY BY STEPHEN FALESKI

Dr. Daniel Hohman, the son of Franklin resident Daniel R. Hohman, has been living in Moscow, Russia since July 2019 while working for NASA. Off the job, he’s taken the opportunity to see some of Moscow’s sights, including Red Square.

Dr. Daniel Hohman, a Gulf War U.S. Navy veteran, can barely look at a model of a Russian warship without thinking “target.”

But that didn't stop the fighter pilotturned-medical doctor, who specializes in aerospace medicine, from accepting a position with NASA's Russia Services Group in Moscow in 2019.

Now, as a member of the International Space Station launch team, he's tasked with providing medical care to the citizens of many nations, including some he once thought of as enemies.

“Moscow is the most incredible city in the world,” Hohman said. “It's spotless in cleanliness and 874 years old. The city's history is, simply, amazing. These people have been through so much in the last 120 years it would blow most American's minds. From the Revolution and the end of the Czars, to the hardship endured throughout World War II, then the rise and fall of the Soviet Union, one can barely begin to understand what they've overcome.”

In addition to caring for visiting engineers, astronauts, cosmonauts and their friends and families, Hohman sometimes serves as a back-up flight doctor for training operations and as a backup for physicians at the American Embassy in the event they are out of town or on vacation.

“When you serve in the aerospace world, NASA is always 'there' in the periphery of what you are doing,” Hohman said. “We hear about the advances being made at the Aerospace Medical Association conferences every year and there is a relatively small number of Aerospace Med physicians in the nation, so we know one another pretty well. I had worked a rotation at Johnson Space Center in residency during the Space Shuttle days, and it is something you always have in the back of your head after being there. Given the opportunity to join the team was

really a neat option after 29 years in the Navy.”

Hohman, whose legal residence is Pensacola, Florida, was already used to the cold, having been stationed at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage, Alaska, just prior to joining NASA. The biggest culture shock, other than Moscow's cleanliness, he said, is its apparent lack of crime.

“There is no graffiti or destruction of public property,” Hohman said. “Everyone works. There is no welfare. If you're blind, they find you a job that doesn't require vision. Same with people who can't walk, hear, speak or any other physical disability. … It's like America when I was young. You can get on a bus and go 10 miles away from home, at age 12, to go to a hockey game and no one is going to bother you. The community will, if needed, in fact, take care of you.”

Russia, as a whole, is much more ethnically diverse than one might imagine, Hohman added, with populations ranging from Siberians to those living on Russia's border with China, Germany and Scandinavia.

“Russians look like the world,” Hohman said. “It's a tough life. The average person doesn't make a lot of money; not even the doctors, but everyone has what they need and they are appreciative of the opportunity to work and live here.

“The modern amenities of this city are far more advanced than in the States. No one uses a credit card hardly. You just hold up your phone to pay for just about everything. The metro is the most efficient and extensive public transportation you've ever seen. … No one brings food or drink and the metros remain as beautiful as the day they were opened, for decades and decades.”

Speaking of food, “You can find every ethnicity of food choice in Moscow,” Hohman said. “There is no paucity of available products from every label and company in the world. Bentleys, Jags, Lambos and Ferraris are found daily on the streets.”

“The language is very difficult,” he admits, but NASA, he said, offers its employees tutors.

“People warm up to you at your gym or your favorite restaurants, but it takes longer than in the U.S.,” Hohman said.

Prior to the global COVID-19 pandemic, Hohman had been performing with the Moscow International Choir and directing the choir at St. Louis Ro-

In addition to caring for visiting engineers, astronauts, cosmonauts and their friends and families, Hohman sometimes serves as a back-up flight doctor for training operations.

Dr. Hohman sometimes serves as a back-up flight doctor for training operations and as a backup for physicians at the American Embassy in the event they are out of town or on vacation.

man Catholic Church, one of three Catholic churches in the city. He's only recently gone back into rehearsal with the International Choir to get ready for its Christmas concerts.

“In the winter, you can ice skate through Gorky Park or out at the VDNH on the world's largest ice skating rink at over 4.9 acres,” Hohman said. “You can even skate in Red Square in the shadows of the world-recognized St. Basil’s [Cathedral]. … Curling centers are around and hockey, of course, is a national pastime. The teams even have cheerleaders and there are four major teams in the city … each with their own giant arena.”

“The arts in Moscow, of course, with the Bolshoi Ballet and the music and theatre here, are top notch,” he added.

Hohman expects to move back to the United States in June of next

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year, but isn't planning on returning to Pensacola or Tidewater.

“Pensacola has been a great place to call home, so has Tidewater, but having been busy and deployed the better part of the last 40 years, I am ready to settle on the Gulf Coast in Florida and spend a little time with the family,” Hohman said. “The isolation imposed by the coronavirus has forced me to look at the important things in life and, though the adventures have been numerous and amazing, it's time to settle down, a little, and share what I've learned with the next generation of flight physicians in the Navy and Air Force.”

Dr. Hohman tries his hand at curling, a sport in which players slide stones on a sheet of ice toward targets, called “houses.”

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