Last week, I had the distinct privilege of visiting the Kennedy Space Center and witnessing the live launch of the space shuttle Discovery.
Although watching the space shuttle on television is impressive, it's hard to get a concrete idea of the sheer size of the shuttle, the dual rockets that help get it off the ground, and the orange fuel tank that helps it to get out of the earth's atmosphere. Simply stated, it's massive. The idea that this huge vehicle and the passengers that we watched live (on TV) as they suited up and were strapped in was going out into space - to not only catch, but actually attach to the international space station, traveling in space at some 17,000 miles an hour simply boggles the mind.
I've never seen a live daytime launch, so I can't compare the two, but the nighttime launch was truly a spectacle - in the middle of the night, the shuttle lights up the sky like the sun rising. It was one of those moments that I'm sure will stay with me. And it was certainly one of those moments that made me proud to be an American.
The space program has brought us not only a greater understanding of our planet and our solar system, but many scientfic advances, some of which we use on a daily basis and don't even know derived from the space program. From satellite TV and GPS navigation systems to cochlear implants, padding for sports equipment and scratch resistant lenses to food safety standards, water purification systems, fire retardant materials, ultrasound technology and more, the space program has helped us to advance our world.
But all of these advances didn't come without failures. We've been sending men into space for more years than I've been on this earth, but I still can't imagine climbing into one of those vehicles and hurtling into space. Great sacrifices have been made, including many involved in the space program who sacrificed their lives. But despite these (sometimes colossal) failures, the space program continued. The Apollo I tragedy, which killed astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee, could have been the end of the space program - instead, numerous flaws were identified and fixed for later missions.
Walking through the space center and learning more about the space program reminded me of a valuable lesson: to achieve great success requires not only a willingness to risk failure, but a willingness to persevere beyond that failure, even when others criticize you for doing so.
What are you willing to risk and fail doing to improve your practice?
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