Knocked down by failure, NASA astronaut Mike Massimino travels to the ‘end of the world’, Sagres in Portugal, when his dreams of space are on the line – only to be inspired by the world’s great explorers.
NASA astronaut and author Mike Massimino had to overcome many obstacles in his ambition to go into space, his journey taking many unexpected turns. Here, in an extract from his book Spaceman, he recalls making a vital decision in his career during a trip to Sagres in Portugal…
Mike Massimino (Mike Massimino)
When I got home from blowing my qualifying exam, my completed NASA application was sitting there on my desk, like salt in my wound.
My first thought was “Well, that’s done.” Then I thought about it and decided to send it in anyway. I’d failed the test, but they were offering me another crack at it, and until I decided what to do, I was still a PhD candidate at MIT, and many astronauts with only a Master’s degree do get picked.
So I mailed it off without telling them, “Hey, and by the way, I just failed my qualifier.” I figured by the time anybody looked at the application, I’d have another crack at the test, if I felt it was worth taking it again. I was all but sure it wasn’t.
Then I went back to Huntsville. I owed them three more weeks of work for my graduate fellowship. The summer before, I’d been excited, confident. Now, I was totally down in the dumps.
The three weeks I was there happened to coincide with a celebration for the twentieth anniversary of the moon landing – twenty years since I’d stood out on my lawn and looked up at the moon, and dreamed about going there someday.
They were having lectures and symposiums, and all the Apollo guys were coming through to give talks and be recognised. Neil Armstrong was there. Buzz Aldrin and Mike Collins and Pete Conrad were there. But instead of being inspired, I was more like “Great, this will never be me. I’m never going to be one of these guys.”
One of the Apollo astronauts there that week was Charlie Duke, who flew with John Young on Apollo 16. He was also one of the four moonwalkers who came through MIT.
I attended the talk that he gave, and after it was over, he was signing autographs for people. I picked up an Apollo postcard and got in line to go up to the table where he was sitting. While he signed the postcard for me, he said, “So what do you do?”
I said, “I’m a research fellow here in Huntsville, and I’m a student at MIT.”
He said, “MIT? Man, that place kicked my ass. I never thought I’d make it out of there, but somehow I did.”
I stood there, thinking, “Wow. This guy walked on the moon, and even he barely made it out of MIT. And he might never have made it to the moon if he hadn’t made it out of MIT.” I realised that Charlie Duke and the other Apollo astronauts, before they walked on the moon, had all walked a mile in my shoes. The journey to space wasn’t easy, but if I gave up, it would be over.
In that moment, I learned how much power astronauts have to inspire people. I walked away from that table and I knew: I had to go back. I had to try again. Maybe I wasn’t a failure and an idiot. Maybe a PhD from MIT is something that’s really hard and it knocks everyone down and forces them to get back up. And this wasn’t only my PhD at stake: my whole space dream was on the line.
I decided that, as bad as I went down in flames the first time, I had to turn it around and pass the test. That was the only happy ending to this story. The chances of my doing that successfully were pretty much zero, but if I didn’t at least try I’d always look back and be disappointed with myself.
Carola and I got married the next month in New York, and we took a three-week honeymoon in Portugal and Spain.
As part of the trip we wound our way down through Portugal to the town of Sagres, which is on a peninsula that juts out into the Atlantic Ocean, Cape St. Vincent; it’s the southwesternmost tip of the country and the whole European continent. It’s an incredibly special place, with 250-foot cliffs that plunge down into the sea, and for a long time people believed it was the end of the world.
A Portuguese prince, Henry the Navigator, had a school there; you can still visit the ruins. He had the latest nautical charts and celestial maps and navigation equipment. It’s where explorers would meet and share knowledge and information before setting sail across the ocean.
Being there made me think about Columbus, Magellan and Vasco da Gama, the guys who took great leaps into the unknown to discover new worlds. Sagres was the Johnson Space Centre of its day.
During the day ,we visited the ruins of Henry the Navigator’s school, and that night we went to an outdoor concert in Sagres, out on these cliffs that plunged 250 feet into the sea.
It was one of those perfect nights, listening to the waves crash, feeling the warm summer breeze, watching the sun set over the ocean as the moon rose up in the sky.
I looked out over the cliffs and I thought about the explorers who had sailed from places like this, what they’d accomplished, mapping the known world, charting our place in the universe.
How many times had they failed and fallen down only to get back up and try again? How many times had they sailed out on an impossible voyage and made a successful return home?
I sat there with Carola looking out over the endless horizon. It was strange, but I felt like everything was going to be okay. The end of my story was not yet written, and I still had the chance to make it extraordinary.
As seen on the Heatheronhertravels.com
diflucan over the counter best over the counter toenail fungus medicine
silvadene cream over the counter over the counter medicine for anxiety and stress
over the counter hearing aids nausea medication over the counter
[url=https://garant-vskrytie-zamkov178.ru/]вскрытие авто[/url]
Авантюристичное энтеротомия экстрим-спорт в течение Москве. Мастер на 15 часах от Вы на распорядке 24/7; Борзое вскрытие сверх дефектов ЛКП а также кузова; Эксплуатация вместе с экстрим-спорт цельных маркий да ..
вскрытие авто
wellcare over the counter ordering over the counter pink eye medicine
Thanks for this post, it is soo useful for me! Thanks! https://linkbuilder.info
How can you check quality of drug
Erectile dysfunction is an individual of the men’s sexual trim disorders. It is cognized as an unfitness of men to attain erection during sexual communication equable if they are sexually excited. Other symptoms of ED are, either it remains for a transitory while or does not surface at all. It is a repeated process. Erectile dysfunction is also called a type of impotence. Frailty is a encyclopedic aspect and covers innumerable other men’s vigour sex disorders like- too early ejaculation, dearth of procreative longing, и так далее Erectile dysfunction does not involve these problems. All these problems interdependent to Erectile dysfunction can be cured with the mitigate of order viagra online without script and other how to get viagra to work medicines.
Causes
Erectile dysfunction does not take any definite cause. There are many reasons behind its occurrence. It can be- natural reasons, your healthfulness problems, medicines you are irresistible, emotional reasons, etc. Give permission’s have a look on ED causes in particular. Erectile dysfunction causes are- consequential blood compression, diabetes, high blood cholesterol, staunchness diseases (Parkinson’s illness and multiple sclerosis), surgery, weak hormone levels, lifestyle factors (smoking and drinking) and others (upset, desire, a case of the jitters, dread, bust). Aging factors also prompt to ED, but aging in itself is not a cause. Low testosterone levels also in some cases prompt to erectile dysfunction. Side effects caused past medications also make men unable for erection.
But there is nothing to agonize close to as treatments are to hand in place of ED. Whole such present treatment for ED is viagra pills online south africa.
Having an interior designer is incredibly important since they have the knowledge and experience to help transform a space into something functional and aesthetically pleasing. Interior designers know how to balance colour, texture, furniture, and other design elements to create the desired look. They are creative problem solvers and can work their magic in any space from small closets to large outdoor decks. With an expert’s eye for detail, your own ideas can be refined and executed perfectly, elevating your space both functionally and aesthetically. Thank you for providing this content and helping us recognize the importance of hiring an interior designer!
scabies treatment over the counter walmart yeast infection treatment over the counter
uti over the counter medicine over the counter ed pills
French Drain And Sump Pump Bedminster, Nj
https://over-the-counter-drug.com/# over the counter antidepressants
uhc over the counter essentials 2019 over the counter oral thrush treatment
Wellnigh all cases of erectile dysfunction are treatable, and treatment can outdo to better inclusive mortal and high-strung health through despite less every tenacious as excellently as advance intimacy in regard to couples. Source: tadalafil tablets 20 mg
over the counter blood pressure medicine over the counter erectile pills at walgreens
Outrigger Pulley In Ocoee, FL
1provisional
strongest over the counter sleep aid over the counter inhaler
Lawyers Jacksonville Fl
over the counter antihistamine anti nausea medication over the counter
Local Sump Pump Installers
CBD Bath Bomb Effects Endomen
Everyone loves it when folks come together and share views. Great blog, stick with it!
Install Watchdog Backup Sump Pump
metronidazole over the counter phentermine over the counter
Can dates increase sperm count
Erectile dysfunction is an individual of the men’s sexy health disorders. It is cognized as an inability of men to attain erection during propagative intercourse equable if they are sexually excited. Other symptoms of ED are, either it remains championing a dumpy while or does not come off at all. It is a repeated process. Erectile dysfunction is also called a model of impotence. Frailty is a widespread off the mark aspect and covers scads other men’s health sex disorders like- too early ejaculation, lack of procreative pine, и так далее Erectile dysfunction does not presuppose implicate these problems. All these problems related to Erectile dysfunction can be cured with the helpers of how to get viagra pills and other sildenafil generic mexico medicines.
Causes
Erectile dysfunction does not hold any specific cause. There are many reasons behind its occurrence. It can be- true reasons, your condition problems, medicines you are taking, nervous reasons, etc. Give permission’s enjoy a look on ED causes in particular. Erectile dysfunction causes are- costly blood compression, diabetes, favourable blood cholesterol, staunchness diseases (Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis), surgery, smutty hormone levels, lifestyle factors (smoking and drinking) and others (upset, nervousness, tenseness, misgivings, depression). Aging factors also supervise to ED, but aging in itself is not a cause. Naughty testosterone levels also in some cases lead to erectile dysfunction. Side effects caused by medications also coerce men impotent in compensation erection.
But there is nothing to harry about as treatments are available with a view ED. A specific such available treatment proper for ED is cheapest viagra in united states.
Replace Sump Pump Doylestown
over the counter erectile pills at walgreens sleeping pills over the counter
Hi, There’s no doubt that your web site could possibly be having browser compatibility problems. Whenever I look at your web site in Safari, it looks fine however, when opening in Internet Explorer, it has some overlapping issues. I merely wanted to give you a quick heads up! Apart from that, great blog!
I really like your blog.. very nice colors & theme. Did you design this website yourself or did you hire someone to do it for you?
“밤의전쟁” Please reply as I’m looking to create my own blog and would
like to find out where u got this from. cheers
Drink, tiredness and uneasiness can all perturb your capacity to conclude d communicate with a arrive at or keep an erection, so your doing can be pretended every randomly and then. But if it’s event often then it’s usefulness a smite to your GP so they can in the main revealed any reachable health issues. Source: cialis 5mg daily how long before it works
https://doxycycline.science/# doxy 200
https://zithromax.science/# buy zithromax no prescription
[url=https://zithromax.science/#]buy zithromax[/url] zithromax over the counter canada
There are certainly a lot of details like that to take into consideration. That is a great point to bring up. I offer the thoughts above as general inspiration but clearly there are questions like the one you bring up where the most important thing will be working in honest good faith. I don?t know if best practices have emerged around things like that, but I am sure that your job is clearly identified as a fair game. Both boys and girls feel the impact of just a moment?s pleasure, for the rest of their lives.
An impressive share, I just given this onto a colleague who was doing a little analysis on this. And he in fact bought me breakfast because I found it for him.. smile. So let me reword that: Thnx for the treat! But yeah Thnkx for spending the time to discuss this, I feel strongly about it and love reading more on this topic. If possible, as you become expertise, would you mind updating your blog with more details? It is highly helpful for me. Big thumb up for this blog post!
https://amoxil.science/# generic amoxil 500 mg
After study a few of the blog posts on your website now, and I truly like your way of blogging. I bookmarked it to my bookmark website list and will be checking back soon. Pls check out my web site as well and let me know what you think.
Animate ED involves abnormalities the penile arteries, veins, or both and is the most workaday basis of ED, chiefly in older men. When the riddle is arterial, it is usually caused around arteriosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, although trauma to the arteries may be the cause. Source: cialis coupon discounts
https://zithromax.science/# zithromax capsules
[url=https://zithromax.science/#]cheap zithromax[/url] can you buy zithromax over the counter in australia
Pills knowledge leaflet. Cautions. tadalafil online tadalis sx tadalafil 5mg tablets tadalafil 5 mg
Nice post. I learn something more challenging on different blogs everyday. It will always be stimulating to read content from other writers and practice a little something from their store. I?d prefer to use some with the content on my blog whether you don?t mind. Natually I?ll give you a link on your web blog. Thanks for sharing.