Dr Eiman Jahangir, a cardiologist who left Tehran for the United States as a child, has published a memoir tracing the decades-long pursuit that made him the first Iranian-American man to travel to space and the globe’s first commercial physician astronaut. A Heart for Space: An Astronaut’s Guide to Achieving the Impossible was released in 2026 by Forefront Books and is distributed by Simon & Schuster.
From wartime Tehran to a childhood in Nashville
Jahangir was born during the Iran–Iraq War and moved with his family to the United States at the age of four, settling in Nashville, Tennessee. He studied medicine and built a career as a cardiologist while harbouring an ambition to travel beyond Earth — an aspiration he pursued even as conventional routes to astronaut corps repeatedly closed.
He applied to NASA several times without success: in 2017, 2021 and 2025, reaching interview stages was not part of the journey. The book frames those rejections not as endpoints but as parts of a longer story that culminated in an unconventional pathway to space.
An unexpected ticket: MoonDAO and Blue Origin
Jahangir’s route into space came through MoonDAO, a collective that raised funds online to purchase seats on Blue Origin’s New Shepard suborbital vehicle. In one month the group secured two tickets. The first seat went to an influencer; the second was allocated by raffle. That first flight took place on 4 August 2022, when Coby Cotton, from Dude Perfect, flew.
"When I failed to even reach the interview stage in 2017, 2021, and 2025—at ages thirty-six, forty, and forty-four, respectively—it was clear that my door to NASA was shutting."
Jahangir describes participating in the raffle during a personal milestone — he and his wife were on a babymoon before their daughter, Aylah, was born. The initial drawing did not select him. Over the following year, complications meant the original winner could not fly and MoonDAO returned to select another passenger, keeping the hope alive for those waiting.
- Born: Tehran, Iran
- Immigrated: Age four, settled in Nashville
- Career: Cardiologist
- Notable firsts: First Iranian-American man to travel to space; world’s first commercial physician astronaut
- Book: A Heart for Space (Forefront Books, 2026)
What the memoir offers
The excerpt published with the book underscores persistence and the long arc of ambition. Jahangir uses personal narrative to explore how childhood shaped by conflict, professional training in medicine and repeated disappointments converged with new commercial opportunities in private spaceflight. His story highlights how emerging pathways to suborbital and commercial flights can open doors for people outside the traditional astronaut pipeline.
It is also a family story: moments like the babymoon and the arrival of Aylah feature alongside technical ambition. For readers who balance careers, family and big dreams, his memoir offers both practical insight and quietly hopeful perspective on how non-linear routes can still deliver extraordinary outcomes.
| Year / Age | Event |
|---|---|
| Age 4 | Emigrated from Tehran to Nashville |
| 2017 (age 36) | Applied to NASA; did not reach interview |
| 2021 (age 40) | Applied to NASA; again unsuccessful |
| 2022 | MoonDAO purchased two Blue Origin seats; first flew on 4 August |
| 2025 (age 44) | Another NASA application that did not progress to interview |
| 2026 | Memoir A Heart for Space published |
For South African readers drawn to tales of migration, professional achievement and family, Jahangir’s memoir is a reminder that career pivots and unlikely opportunities can intersect in ways that change a life. It also points to a broader shift: commercial space ventures and community-funded projects like MoonDAO are creating new possibilities for people who once faced a single, narrow path to orbit.
The book’s mix of medical career detail and personal reflection provides practical lessons for those juggling demanding jobs and family responsibilities, and for anyone plotting a long-term dream. It is a story about patience, timing and the expanding routes to the final frontier.
