None of our space men wrote their books while they worked because they were too busy working. Kranz wrote that everyone who helps on space work has a spouse that helps them, “and behind her is the plumber, the electrician, the Maytag repairman, and one or more sick kids. And the car needs to go into the shop.”

Fighting those laws of thermodynamics takes a lot of work.

Fighting our own laws of thermodynamics takes work too.

From Chris Hadfield we can keep in mind the value of pulling a thread. Our lives don’t depend on us getting all of our decisions right but we can be more rigorous and effortful when something doesn’t go right.

From Kelly we can maintain the right mix of motivation, skills, and context. When we’re stuck we can tweak one of those to see if it gets us to the next level.

From Kranz we can embrace the humility and openness it took to think that strapping a person into a tiny capsule on top of a controlled explosion was a good idea. NASA was and still is a learning organization.

From all of them we can value the support we get from friends, partners, spouses and we can be the support for those same people.

We all have many tops to keep spinning. Our careers, friendships, relationships, marriages, hobbies, and health. Sometimes those can be overwhelming but thinking like astronauts might help.

To Space and back

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