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The historical narrative of Apollo program contains so many awesome aspects of leadership, teamwork, technological innovation, excellence in operations, that th
by fsloth 3y ago
The historical narrative of Apollo program contains so many awesome aspects of leadership, teamwork, technological innovation, excellence in operations, that the more you read about it the astronaut's contributions tend to fall to the background. Yes, they were a critical part of the process, and earn their place in history books, but similarly we should remember the stories of people like Margaret Hamilton, Werner von Braun, Gene Kranz among many others.
- gradus_ad 3y agoThe astronauts add that raw aspect of bravery and potential sacrifice to the story. Not that long hours over years and years dedicated to a single project is not sacrifice. But that doesn't hold a candle to a risk your life type of sacrifice. In 2024 people still get nervous going on domestic flights. I can't imagine how someone could muster the sheer courage to volunteer as an astronaut, either then or now. It's a testament to humanity's willingness to risk even death in pursuit of something greater.
- fsloth 3y ago"humanity's willingness to risk even death in pursuit of something greater." I would rephraze this as 'humanity's capability to sustain a large range of psychological profiles and the capability to filter out from the general population the particular individuals fitting for a given task'. My understanding is the astronauts were a very specific niche group and mostly wanted to fly faster and higher than anyone before them, and were willing to pay any price to achieve this.