I never give anything up

Dinner with the patron saint of renaissance men. Story Musgrave is the most accomplished astronaut, having flown six missions—the only astronaut to fly on all five shuttles. Story is the most educated of astronauts with seven academic degrees ranging from chemistry to literature, and is a licensed physician. Story helped in the design of Skylab and later the design of extravehicular and spacesuit technologies for the Shuttle. Story is a pilot and a poet.

I am, like my father before me, a jack of all trades. DIY, extreme. And I sometimes struggle to finish projects because I have so many irons in the fire. And even at 52 I’m insatiably curious, and still find the world fascinating—I want to learn and experience it all. To drink from the firehose. To chase all my dreams.

Sometimes though, slow progress is so frustrating that I think I should give up some of my passions to make room for others, but it’s just too hard to let go of things I love. It was comforting, Story’s answer, when I asked how he was able to achieve so much. And as a senior consultant for Disney’s Imagineering Group, and a partner at problem solving firm Applied Minds, he’s still productive at almost 90 years of age.

He said, rather bluntly, “I never give anything up.”

#starstruck #nasa #allamericanhero #astronaut #legend