Spaceman: An Astronaut's Unlikely Journey to Unlock the Secrets of the Universe QUOTES

1 " My childhood dream came true, but now I have a new one. I dream that some of these young people, while they're out there clicking around, maybe they'll find out about this book and find a way to get their hands on it - and when they do, they'll know that even if you're a skinny kid from Long Island who's scared of heights, if you dream of walking among the stars you can do it. They'll know that finding a purpose, being dedicated to the service of others and to a calling higher than yourself, that is what's truly important in life. They'll be able to close their eyes and imagine what it's like in space, and when they open them again, they'll look up at the sun and the moon and the Milky Way and see them with the sense of awe and wonder that they deserve.

And those young boys and girls, whatever their space dream is, they'll go for it. Whatever hurdles are in their way, they'll get past them. When they fall down, they'll get back up. They'll keep going and going, working harder and harder and running faster and faster until one day, before they know it, they'll find themselves flying through the air. The hand of a giant science fiction monster will reach down and grab them by the chest and hurl them up and up and up, out to the furthest limits of the human imagination, where they'll take the next giant leap of the greatest adventure mankind has ever known. "

― Mike Massimino , Spaceman: An Astronaut's Unlikely Journey to Unlock the Secrets of the Universe

2 " The camaraderie that firefighters have, that brotherhood that forms among them - my father was a part of that, and it came from having a shared sense of purpose. He told me that whatever you do in life, it can't just be about making money. It's important that you work to make the world a better place, that you help improve the lives of the people around you. "

― Mike Massimino , Spaceman: An Astronaut's Unlikely Journey to Unlock the Secrets of the Universe

3 " I knew right then that I wanted to be a part of something that meaningful. I wanted to have something I was so passionate about that I'd be willing to risk everything for it. I wanted to know that if I ever got killed, I got killed doing something worthwhile. The kid who looked up at the moon and wasn't afraid to dream - I decided that part of me deserved a chance. I sat there in that reception area, watching the crash footage play over and over again on the television, and that was when it hit home for me: you only have one life. You have to spend it doing something that matters. "

― Mike Massimino , Spaceman: An Astronaut's Unlikely Journey to Unlock the Secrets of the Universe

4 " I think he was trying to tell us that life is not about achieving one great thing, because once that thing is over, life keeps going. What motivates you then? The important thing is having a passion, something you love doing, and the greatest joy in the world is that you get to wake up every day and do it. "

― Mike Massimino , Spaceman: An Astronaut's Unlikely Journey to Unlock the Secrets of the Universe

5 " The important thing in life is having a passion, something you really love doing, and you take joy in the fact that you get to wake up every day and do it. "

― Mike Massimino , Spaceman: An Astronaut's Unlikely Journey to Unlock the Secrets of the Universe

6 " If you work hard and get help from good friends, together you can overcome almost any challenge, no matter how great. "

― Mike Massimino , Spaceman: An Astronaut's Unlikely Journey to Unlock the Secrets of the Universe

7 " 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 unknown 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. "

― Mike Massimino , Spaceman: An Astronaut's Unlikely Journey to Unlock the Secrets of the Universe

8 " Life is funny. I'd applied to the wrong graduate program, but that eventually led me to the right grad program. I'd taken what I thought was the wrong undergraduate major, and that was the thing that set me apart and allowed me to find my niche. I don't know if there are any lessons to take from that except to realize that the things you think are mistakes may turn out not to be mistakes. I realized wherever you are, if you make the most of what you've got, you can find a way to keep moving forward. "

― Mike Massimino , Spaceman: An Astronaut's Unlikely Journey to Unlock the Secrets of the Universe

9 " That's how a team works. You help the people around you, and everybody's better off for it. The crazy thing is that most of those guys wanted to be astronauts, too, but they never saw it as a competition. We were on the same team, where you want everyone around you to be as successful as possible, because in some way or another their success will become your success. It's good karma - what goes around comes around. "

― Mike Massimino , Spaceman: An Astronaut's Unlikely Journey to Unlock the Secrets of the Universe

10 " Because being the right person isn’t about being perfect; it’s about being able to handle whatever life throws at you. I "

― Mike Massimino , Spaceman: An Astronaut's Unlikely Journey to Unlock the Secrets of the Universe

11 " You only have one life. You have to spend it doing something that matters. "

― Mike Massimino , Spaceman: An Astronaut's Unlikely Journey to Unlock the Secrets of the Universe

12 " And my thought looking down at the Earth was Wow. How much God our Father must love us that he gave us this home. He didn’t put us on Mars or Venus with nothing but rocks and frozen waste. He gave us paradise and said, “Live here.” It’s not easy to wrap your head around the origins and purpose of the universe, but that’s the best way I can describe the feelings I had. "

― Mike Massimino , Spaceman: An Astronaut's Unlikely Journey to Unlock the Secrets of the Universe

13 " It’s a planet,” I said. “It’s not what we thought it was back home. It’s not this safe cocoon, man. We’re out here spinning in all this chaos. The Earth is a planet. The Earth is a spaceship, and we’re all space travelers. "

― Mike Massimino , Spaceman: An Astronaut's Unlikely Journey to Unlock the Secrets of the Universe

14 " If you can learn to live with indignities in life, you can go far.” And he’s right. You can learn a lot by getting knocked down, and I got knocked down over and over again. And every time I got up and kept going. I know there were students in my class who were smarter than me, but I don’t know if there was anybody who worked harder than me. "

― Mike Massimino , Spaceman: An Astronaut's Unlikely Journey to Unlock the Secrets of the Universe

15 " Right after we launched, I realized that all the training we'd on what to do if something went wrong during launch-how to bail out , how to operate the parachutes, how to make an emergency landing-I realized that all those years of training were completely pointless. It was just filler to make us feel okay about climbing into this thing. Because if it's going down, it's going down. It's either going to be a good day or it's going to be a bad day, and there is no in-between. "

― Mike Massimino , Spaceman: An Astronaut's Unlikely Journey to Unlock the Secrets of the Universe

16 " There are emergency placards and safety signs all over the interior of the shuttle, telling you what to do and where to go. That stuff is there to give you something to read before you die. "

― Mike Massimino , Spaceman: An Astronaut's Unlikely Journey to Unlock the Secrets of the Universe

17 " If you can learn to live with indignities in life, you can go far. "

― Mike Massimino , Spaceman: An Astronaut's Unlikely Journey to Unlock the Secrets of the Universe

18 " Popping M&M’s in the air and going after them and chomping them like Pac-Man. I actually gained weight in space, which no one ever does. The doctors were confounded, but I just loved eating up there. "

― Mike Massimino , Spaceman: An Astronaut's Unlikely Journey to Unlock the Secrets of the Universe

19 " My favorite lecturer was Alan Bean, who flew on Apollo 12 and is one of the twelve guys who walked on the moon. After retiring from NASA, he became a painter. Alan's lecture was called "The Art of Space Exploration." He talked about the mistakes he'd made and how he learned to fix them. One lesson that took him a while to learn was that at a place like NASA you can only have an effect on certain things. You can't control who likes you. You can't control who gets assigned to flights or what NASA's budget is going to be next year. If you get caught up worrying about things you can't control, you'll drive yourself nuts. It's better to focus on the things right in front of you. Identify the places where you can have a positive impact. Concentrate there and let the rest take care of itself. The last thing Alan said to us was 'What most people want in life is to do something great. That doesn't happen often. Don't take it for granted. Don't be blasé about it. And don't blow it. A lot of times, believe it or not, people blow it. "

― Mike Massimino , Spaceman: An Astronaut's Unlikely Journey to Unlock the Secrets of the Universe

20 " Kennedy’s address announcing the Apollo program was one of the great presidential speeches of all time. He challenged us. He excited us. We reach for impossible things, he said, “not because they are easy, but because they are hard.” He "

― Mike Massimino , Spaceman: An Astronaut's Unlikely Journey to Unlock the Secrets of the Universe