Summary of Moonshot by Mike Massimino: A NASA Astronaut’s Guide to Achieving the Impossible

By Justin Reese

DISCLAIMER

 

This book does not in any capacity mean to replace the original book but to serve as a vast summary of the original book.

Summary of Moonshot by Mike Massimino: A NASA Astronaut's Guide to Achieving the Impossible

IN THIS SUMMARIZED BOOK, YOU WILL GET:

• Chapter astute outline of the main contents.
• Fast & simple understanding of the content analysis.
• Exceptionally summarized content that you may skip in the original book

 

Moonshot is a guide by Mike Massimino, a NASA Astronaut, that offers ten lessons from his life experiences and spaceflight experiences. These lessons include the importance of perseverance, dealing with mistakes, being amazed by the universe, and knowing when to pivot. The book encourages readers to achieve their personal and professional dreams by focusing on achieving a thousand little things along the way.

• Language: English
• Publisher: jUSTIN REESE
• Release date: Dec 11, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223264019

Book preview

PREFACE

The author, a former astronaut, shares his journey from a working-class kid from Long Island to the stars, highlighting the importance of determination, perseverance, and passion in achieving success. He shares his experiences on The Big Bang Theory, national news, late-night television, and specials for National Geographic and the Discovery Channel. He has given hundreds of speeches and presentations across various fields, highlighting the need for hard work and smart thinking. The author believes that if you are not born to it, you have to work for it. He believes that stories that resonate with people are those that have a message and advice they can take forward into their daily lives.

This feedback inspired him to write a book that shares the lessons of spaceflight and his life experiences with a wider audience, focusing on how these lessons can help anyone become whatever they want to be. The book emphasizes that achieving one's personal and professional dreams requires achieving a thousand little things along the way, and that one big thing can be achieved through a thousand small steps.

ONE IN A MILLION IS NOT ZERO

THE ODDS ARE AGAINST YOU. DO IT ANYWAY

On March 30, 1992, the author was in a small apartment in Cambridge, Massachusetts, working on his doctoral thesis for graduation. He was watching the Oscars on TV and noticed the crew of STS-45 having an Oscar statuette they had flown into space. The year was tough for NASA, with plans for a permanent space station in peril amid budget cuts. The economy was tanking, and the aerospace industry was shrinking. The author was in a despondent mood, graduating into an aerospace job market that was going through a downturn.

The author's dream of becoming an astronaut was based on their imagination, but as they got older, their dreams faced obstacles such as academic hurdles, financial constraints, and personal limitations. One such moment occurred when the author discovered that they were afraid of heights, which led to a realization that they would never grow up to be Neil Armstrong.

Over the years, the author's space dream waxed and waned, but it came back when they saw The Right Stuff, a movie about the original Mercury 7 astronauts and the test pilots who pioneered the early days of the space program. They read Tom Wolfe's book about the same book and felt compelled to try to be an astronaut. However, they eventually settled down and worked at IBM, which was a good company but not necessarily the best position for them to pursue their dream of flying in space.

In 1986, the Challenger explosion inspired the author to pursue a career in the space program, leading him to MIT and his apartment on Massachusetts Avenue. However, due to the economy, job market, and uncertain future of the space program, he faced rejections from NASA's Astronaut Program. Despite this, he calculated that one in a million is not zero and that giving up in the face of adversity can make a task impossible.

In 1989, he submitted his first application to NASA's Astronaut Program, which was rejected after eight months. In 1991, NASA announced they were accepting applications for the Astronaut Class of 1992, and he dropped application number two. After waiting a few months, he received the same rejection on his second application. Despite this, he continued trying and was hired as a research engineer by McDonnell Douglas Aerospace in Houston, Texas.

A few years later, NASA announced they were looking for more astronauts, and he applied for application number three. He received a phone call from NASA, stating he had made the cut for the interview stage. The astronaut job interview is more than just an interview with the Astronaut Selection Board; it involves a week of examinations, hurdles, and medical exams.

After getting to know the applicant well, NASA rejected him again, this time due to his eyes. This experience taught the author the importance of perseverance