Quote:
Originally Posted by Tervuren
I am not one to gain much from "motivational speakers".
Chris Hadfield was an exception.
He sacrificed normal to be extraordinary.
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In my last job he was invited as a guest speaker, incredible stories he told..
One awesome story was that sometimes the NASA guys mess up, just like any other workplace:
In the planning they decided to put two devices of the same (one as a backup) to measure the distance and speed of the incoming spaceship to attach itself to the station.
Well, what nobody in NASA thought was: what if we get two distinct readings ? Which is right?? Too fast, they punch a hole and kill everyone, not close enough? the hinges will rip apart and make a hole and kill everyone...
So his call as a commander was to say: no computers. Visual parallelogram to calculate speed and distance. He did the calculations in his head.. Asked for confirmation of the calculations and everybody survived. Talk about guts!
The learning is to be prepared for the worst and hope for the best. He practiced the parallelogram approach so he knew what to do, obviously he never expected to use it.
One funny thing he mentioned is that when you're up there the paradigm changes because absolutely everyone not in the tin can with you, is part of a well intentioned support centre
and nothing more.