Sooner or later

By Dave English

“If you’re going to go to the Moon, sooner or later you’ve got to go to the Moon.”

Flight Director Glynn Linney, summing up the rationale for the Apollo 8 ‘go’ decision, NASA meetings, 1968. Quoted in the 2019 book Shoot for the Moon.

This was a huge decision, a quantum step from Earth orbit flights.  Apollo 8 was the first crewed spacecraft to leave Earth’s gravitational sphere of influence going out into deep space, and the first human spaceflight to reach the Moon. The crew orbited the Moon ten times without landing and then returned to Earth. The three astronauts were the first humans to see and photograph the far side of the Moon and an Earthrise. 240,000 miles outside of Earth orbit. Amazing.

While NASA had carefully planned and prepared for this mission, it was still a massive leap. But some things can’t be done in small incremental steps, sometimes, sooner or later, you have to to the moon.

It’s a great book, outstanding in a crowded field. Shoot for the Moon: How the Moon Landings Taught us the 8 Secrets fo Success, Richard Wiseman, 2019.

It seemed the aircraft was almost …

By Dave English

“As we took to the skies it seemed the aircraft was almost an extension of his body, carving its way over the water and through the air as if it already knew what inputs came next.”

Niki Britton, describing Aaron Singer fly a seaplane over San Francisco. AOPA Pilot magazine, October 2024.


It’s what good flying looks like.

Jack Kornfield on Paragliding

By Dave English

I had no idea about this. Listening to a repeat of a Tim Ferriss podcast with famed Buddhist writer and teacher Jack Kornfield, he expressed his love of … paragliding:

“One of my favorite things is to tandem paraglide and go off the top of places like Grindlewold in Switzerland, where you can take the ski lift up 9,000 feet and then jump off and float silently, like you’re a bird among the clouds. The birds actually do come by sometimes and check out, what’s this big bird flying up here? You can catch thermals and go way up above the glaciers. And it’s one of the most thrilling and delicious experiences that I know.”

That’s right! One of the most influential figures in bringing meditation to the West understands some of the magic of flying.

“Most people have these dreams once in a while, if you’re lucky, a dream of flying. Or maybe in your meditation, you have the sense of not being limited to your body. And this is the closest thing that I know because it’s absolutely silent, and you’re floating there. It’s quite fantastic.”

That’s all I’ve got. But I think it’s fun to see this icon gets it. He really gets it!

The full interview is online, and certainly worthwhile of your time: https://tim.blog/2018/06/04/the-tim-ferriss-show-transcripts-jack-kornfield/