The Mission of a Lifetime: Lessons from the Men Who Went to the Moon
By Frank Scarpa
The weekly presentation of the Retired Men’s Association of Greenwich’s meeting on February 9 featured Bob Phillips introducing Basil Hero, who is an award-winning former investigative reporter with NBC News. Hero’s book, The Mission of a Lifetime: Lessons from the Men Who Went to the Moon, was selected by the Financial Times as one of the top 10 reads of the summer of 2021 and is considered one of the best books on the leadership skills and spirituality of the Apollo astronauts. Personal interviews with nine of the twelve surviving astronauts who walked on or orbited the moon (all now in their 90s) are the basis for this work. Mr. Hero separated his findings from these interviews into ten discrete issues:
1) Leadership and management lessons. The initiation of the space/moon mission by President John Kennedy was a visionary and bold move. That mission came to fruition through advances in management technology and the hiring of “the best people.”
2) Having a clear mission with a clear deadline. Although this “mission” took eight years, its actual implementation was a key to its success.
3) Hiring the Best People. James Webb, Truman’s OMB Director, was a critical actor.
4) Have Sufficient Funding. With the assistance of Congressman Albert Thomas, through the 1962 Salary Resource Act, the budget was doubled.
5) Delegation of Authority, “almost to the point of abdication” (in Werner von Braun’s words), was important. Four hundred thousand engineers and 20,000 contractors were ultimately required. George Mueller, the Head of the Apollo II Program, instituted the concept of “All Up Testing,” coordinating programs across states.
6) Open Communications. Von Braun would hold planning meetings every Monday.
7) Owning One’s Mistakes. This concept is important in surgical morbidity and mortality conferences in all of our major teaching hospitals.
8) Ensuring Quality Control. A reliability of 99.9% is expected–and this may not be good enough!
9) Calculated Risk-taking. The first mission to actually go to the moon was Apollo 8 (Anders, Borman and Lovell).
10) Moral Courage. For example, Frank Borman disagreed with President Nixon’s wish to have the “Star Spangled Banner” played upon the moon landing, arguing that the mission was not about nationalism or jingoism.
Bob Phillips then moderated a question-and-answer session that discussed robotics vs. manned missions (the former is preferred by many), “The Right Stuff” (the “best pilots in the world”), and existential and spiritual changes in the astronauts’ outlook after moon missions. Most telling was James Lovell’s comment after viewing the Earth from space: “You go to Heaven when you are born.” To stream Basil Hero’s presentation, click here (https://vimeo.com/user9053619/videos)
The RMA’s upcoming presentation, the fourth in a series of five discussions about music and the Greenwich Symphony Orchestra featuring Joshua Gersen, will occur at 11 AM on Wednesday, February 23. Joshua Gersen will discuss his approach to conducting and the music he loves. The format will be a conversation with concert-goer Gerald Pollack of the RMA. An artist of impeccable musical credentials, Maestro Gersen is widely respected as an engaging and inspiring conductor, able to communicate effortlessly with both young and established orchestras internationally. A native of the New York area, he has been Music Director of the New York Youth Symphony for the past five years and recently concluded his tenure as the Assistant Conductor of the New York Philharmonic.
To stream Joshua’s presentation, click here https://greenwichrma.org/speakers/future-speakers-3/. This presentation will also be available on the local public access TV Channels, VerizonFIOS channel 24 and Optimum (Cablevision) channel 79.
RMA speaker presentations are presented as a community service at no cost to in-person or Zoom attendees. The RMA urges all eligible individuals to consider becoming a member of our great organization, and thereby enjoy all the available fellowship, volunteer and community service opportunities, which the RMA offers to its members. For further information, contact Michael Ambrosino (mail to: brooklynoil@yahoo.com) or Peter Stern (mail to: pmstern@optonline.net).
