Focus On The Journey, Not On Arriving

When I Stand On The Edge Of A Cliff Or Right At The Edge Of A Building Or Something, It's One Of The Few Things That Gives Me Kind Of A Deep, Overwhelming, Irrational Fear Where It Affects My Physiology.

One Chief Astronaut Used To Make A Point Of Phoning The Front Desk At The Clinic Where Applicants Are Sent For Medical Testing, To Find Out Which Ones Treated The Staff Well-and Which Ones Stood Out In A Bad Way. The Nurses And Clinic Staff Have Seen A Whole Lot Of Astronauts Over The Years, And They Know What The Wrong Stuff Looks Like. A Person With A Superiority Complex Might Unwittingly, Right There In The Waiting Room, Quash His Or Her Chances Of Ever Going To Space.

Life Off Earth Is In Two Important Respects Not At All Unworldly: You Can Choose To Focus On The Surprises And Pleasures, Or The Frustrations. And You Can Choose To Appreciate The Smallest Scraps Of Experience, The Everyday Moments, Or To Value Only The Grandest, Most Stirring Ones.

I Wasn’t Destined To Be An Astronaut. I Had To Turn Myself Into One.

I've Had A Chance To Fly A Lot Of Different Airplanes, But It Was Nothing Like The Shuttle Ride.