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GOTO 2015 • To the Moon • Russ Olsen


00:00:06I want to do a different kind of talk

00:00:13this morning for you because you know

00:00:16and listening to the conference

00:00:18introduction and you listen to all the

00:00:20topics that we’re gonna be talking about

00:00:22in the next couple of days micro

00:00:24services and the cloud and security it

00:00:27always reminds me when I hear these sort

00:00:29of conference introductions it always

00:00:30reminds me of how we are right now

00:00:33people right we get paid to solve

00:00:36problems right now and we are intensely

00:00:40interested in how to do things right

00:00:43almost all of the talks you’re gonna

00:00:44hear at this conference at most

00:00:48conferences are all about a better way

00:00:50to do it or some experience I’ve had

00:00:52it’s all about right here right now

00:00:55let’s get things done but every now and

00:00:58then you want to pause whatever you’re

00:01:01doing every now and then you want to

00:01:02pause take a breath and think about why

00:01:05you’re doing things what why do you do

00:01:07this for a living right clearly it pays

00:01:10pretty well but here’s a room full of

00:01:12really smart people you could go off and

00:01:14do a million different things but you

00:01:16choose to do this why alright then

00:01:19that’s kind of what I want to talk about

00:01:20the why question is kind of a hard

00:01:23question the answer and it’s a hard

00:01:25question the talk about so I’m gonna

00:01:27talk about it in a weird kind of way I

00:01:29am gonna talk about the why question by

00:01:32telling you a story it is a story that

00:01:35is really close to my heart it’s it’s a

00:01:38fun story so if nothing else we’ll all

00:01:40sort of get woken up this morning kick

00:01:44off the conference I think it’s a fun

00:01:45story but I also think it’s a story that

00:01:48can speak to some of the issues around

00:01:51what we do and it can teach us little

00:01:54things about what we’ve chosen to do for

00:01:56a living and it can teach us great big

00:01:58things and in particular one of the

00:02:01great big things I think that this story

00:02:02can teach us is why we do this stuff so

00:02:06here’s what I’m going to do I’m gonna

00:02:08tell you the story and then I’m gonna

00:02:10circle bet around at the end and I’m

00:02:12gonna try and make the case that this

00:02:14story has little things to teach us and

00:02:16great big things to teach us about how

00:02:18we

00:02:19spend their time so here goes here’s my

00:02:21story it’s the summer of 1969 and it’s

00:02:28hot I mean it’s really hot and when it

00:02:31gets hot like this people go a little

00:02:33crazy sometimes Society goes a little

00:02:35crazy and here in the summer of 1969 it

00:02:38seems like everything is going crazy in

00:02:41the United States they’re a huge and

00:02:43growing protest sometimes violent

00:02:45protests against the Vietnam War

00:02:47here in Europe at times whole countries

00:02:49France for example have been shut down

00:02:52in the last year as people take to the

00:02:54streets demonstrating for better

00:02:56education a fairer society a better

00:02:59government and it’s not just the you

00:03:03know civil unrest that seems a little

00:03:05crazy here in the summer of 1969 there’s

00:03:08also the pace of technological change

00:03:10because here in the summer of 1969 there

00:03:13are a few people there’s not very many

00:03:16of them but there are a few people who

00:03:18work with computers they’re a little odd

00:03:20but they’re basically harmless but here

00:03:24in the summer of 1969 the technology is

00:03:26changing so fast that these people who

00:03:29work with computers have had to learn a

00:03:31new word that word is megabyte because

00:03:34here in the summer of 1969 it is now

00:03:38possible to buy a computer with not one

00:03:41not two but four megabytes of RAM can

00:03:46you believe that four megabytes of RAM

00:03:48and that memory will only cost you a

00:03:52hundred thousand US dollars per megabyte

00:03:56it’s just insane but if you want real

00:04:00crazy look no further than the Cold War

00:04:04here in the summer of 1969 the Cold War

00:04:08has been going on for 25 years this

00:04:13beautiful city here in the summer of

00:04:151969 is divided Germany is divided

00:04:19Europe is divided the world is divided

00:04:23on one side is the United States and

00:04:25what we call the West and on the other

00:04:27side is the Soviet Union and and

00:04:30basically Eastern Europe and if

00:04:32to other countries and they have these

00:04:35suicides have been locked in this not

00:04:38quite peace not quite were thing for 25

00:04:42years for 25 years they’ve been facing

00:04:46each other armed to the teeth each side

00:04:49waiting for the other side to make the

00:04:52first move or make the first mistake or

00:04:55the sneeze and you better hope nobody

00:04:58sneezes because they no matter who they

00:05:02are from your point of view they have

00:05:04thousands of nuclear weapons we have

00:05:07thousands of nuclear weapons so let me

00:05:09tell you if those bombs start flying if

00:05:12those bombs start flying we all have

00:05:14about 15 minutes to live

00:05:16so here in the summer of 1969 we are

00:05:18hanging on by our fingernails living

00:05:21life 15 minutes at a time but for once

00:05:25for once the newspaper is here in the

00:05:29summer of 1969 are not filled with news

00:05:32of the Cold War or the heat or the

00:05:34technology or the civil unrest for once

00:05:37it’s something else

00:05:39it’s Apollo it’s the project to land a

00:05:43person on the moon but don’t get me

00:05:47wrong

00:05:48Apollo is all about the Cold War you see

00:05:51in the late 1950s in the early 1960s the

00:05:54Soviets were doing all these marvelous

00:05:56things in space they launched the first

00:05:59or satellite they put the first person

00:06:02in orbit they got the first picture of

00:06:05the far side of the Moon really really

00:06:09crappy picture but it was a marvelous

00:06:12there were the less and the Cold War was

00:06:15like a chess game right they make a move

00:06:17we make a move and when you’re going or

00:06:19all around the world saying hey be on

00:06:22our side we’re the smart ones we’re

00:06:24gonna win you cannot afford to have the

00:06:27other side do all the spectacular

00:06:28amazing stuff and not do something so

00:06:33John Kennedy was President of the United

00:06:35States at the time and it was the United

00:06:37States that felt like they had to do

00:06:39something about what the Soviets were

00:06:41doing in space so Kennedy got his

00:06:44advisers together and they came up

00:06:46with the strategy and the strategy they

00:06:48came up with was based on the idea that

00:06:50if you’re behind in a race the way we or

00:06:53the US was behind in the space thing

00:06:56it’s better to be behind in a very long

00:06:59race in a marathon than it is in a very

00:07:01short race because in a long race you

00:07:04have time to catch up so Kennedy just

00:07:06decided the declarer marathon where can

00:07:09we go he asked where can we go in space

00:07:13that’s far away that’ll turn this into a

00:07:16marathon

00:07:17Kennedy’s adviser said well the moon’s

00:07:19pretty far away can we said fine we’re

00:07:21going to the moon it’s just completely

00:07:23arbitrary goal and we need a deadline

00:07:26we need a stake in the calendar 1970 is

00:07:30a nice round number we are going to the

00:07:33moon by 1970 it’s completely arbitrary

00:07:36goal completely arbitrary deadline no

00:07:40one here has ever experienced that have

00:07:42you so Kennedy got up in front of the US

00:07:46Congress and he said we are going to go

00:07:50to the moon by 1970 we’re gonna take a

00:07:52person land them safely on the moon

00:07:54return them to the earth by 1970 and a

00:07:57funny thing happened after Kennedy gave

00:07:59that speech you know people maybe you’re

00:08:01walking down the street and you see your

00:08:03friend and you start talking and you say

00:08:05have you heard this Kennedy thing the

00:08:07moon we’re going to the moon I mean

00:08:10Jules Verne and HG Wells we are going to

00:08:13the moon who cares if it’s about the

00:08:15Cold War and it’s funny you could tell

00:08:17that Kennedy caught a little bit of that

00:08:19excitement that fever because a few

00:08:22months after he made the first speech he

00:08:23made a second speech and in that second

00:08:26speech Kennedy said words more or less

00:08:29we choose to go to the moon not because

00:08:32it’s easy but because it’s hard so how

00:08:36hard is it to go to the moon what really

00:08:38all depends on how far the moon is away

00:08:41and so I have a tennis ball here right

00:08:46you because whenever you talked about

00:08:47astronomical distances right you need an

00:08:49analogue right so here’s my tennis ball

00:08:51this is the earth right then they have

00:08:53this little rubber ball and if this is

00:08:56the moon about the right size for the

00:08:58moon

00:08:58now how far apart do you think the earth

00:09:00and the moon are think about you know

00:09:02when you’re in school there is always

00:09:03that picture in your textbook you know

00:09:06the picture I’m talking about this is

00:09:08how tides where I can remember that

00:09:09picture this is how the lunar eclipse

00:09:12happens with the shadows there’s always

00:09:14a picture in the earth on the moon or

00:09:15about this far apart the earth in the

00:09:18moon let me tell you are not this far

00:09:20apart that picture is about getting the

00:09:23earth and the moon on the same page the

00:09:25earth and the moon are not this far

00:09:26apart they’re not this far apart they’re

00:09:29not this far apart my arms aren’t long

00:09:31enough to be about two meters at the

00:09:33scale so when Kennedy said that we’re

00:09:38going to meters by an arbitrary deadline

00:09:40a few people had gone out in the space

00:09:43handful of Russians one American do you

00:09:46know how far they’ve gotten into space

00:09:48not quite as high as the fuzz on this

00:09:52tennis ball they hadn’t made it out of

00:09:54the fuzz yet and suddenly we’re going to

00:09:56meters by an arbitrary deadline it’s

00:09:59just a completely insane project so if

00:10:04you have this incredibly hard project

00:10:06and this impossible deadline how do you

00:10:09even start like what’s the right thing

00:10:12to do to start well I don’t know what

00:10:15the right thing to do is but I do know

00:10:17what they actually did which is they did

00:10:20everything everything all at the same

00:10:23time they tried to think of everything

00:10:25that would have to be done to get people

00:10:28to the moon right the goal is to take a

00:10:30person land safely on the moon return

00:10:32them to the earth well they tried to

00:10:34think of everything that would have to

00:10:36be done and they started doing them all

00:10:38all at the same time and the prayer was

00:10:41that it would all come together at the

00:10:43last minute perfectly because that’s

00:10:46always a good plan so one of the things

00:10:50they did what’s the ask themself what’s

00:10:53the simplest thing that could possibly

00:10:55work here right go is person land them

00:10:59on the moon return them the earth but we

00:11:01can’t do that right at the beginning so

00:11:04what’s the simplest thing that we can do

00:11:05right now that will work so how do we

00:11:08simplify it well it’s pretty obvious

00:11:11could leave the person out right if you

00:11:13just sent a machine to the moon and

00:11:15landed it on the moon and returned it to

00:11:17the earth that has got to be easier than

00:11:19people cuz you know people like to

00:11:21breathe and eat they don’t like

00:11:23radiation and all that stuff so if you

00:11:26leave the person out that would make it

00:11:27simpler maybe that’s something we could

00:11:29do right up front but could we make it

00:11:31simpler still easier still sure if

00:11:34you’re just sending a machine and

00:11:36landing it on the moon you don’t have to

00:11:38bring it back you can cut the trip in

00:11:39half so that’s got to be easier right

00:11:42but is that the easiest thing we could

00:11:45possibly do not quite we need to talk

00:11:49about what this word land means right

00:11:52what if we read the fine land let’s go

00:11:56screaming into the surface of the Moon

00:11:58it you know five thousand kilometers per

00:12:00hour right that would be landing of a

00:12:02sort and we could take some pictures as

00:12:04the moon got closer and closer and

00:12:05closer thus was born project Ranger a

00:12:09project they hit the moon with the

00:12:12spaceships Ranger one was launched in

00:12:16August of 1961 it was kind of a weird

00:12:19project right it’s the goal is to crash

00:12:23the spaceship so Ranger one actually

00:12:27exceeded expectations certainly it was

00:12:29ahead of schedule Ranger one crashed

00:12:32into the Atlantic Ocean

00:12:34Ranger two did better it crashed into

00:12:36the Pacific Ocean

00:12:38Ranger three in all seriousness did

00:12:41better it made it all the way out to the

00:12:44orbit of the Moon Moon one there at the

00:12:47time and two Rangers three just went

00:12:50sailing on by out into the great beyond

00:12:53Ranger three is still out there let’s

00:12:57say Ranger four actually hit the moon

00:12:59Ranger four hit the moon but it died on

00:13:02the way to the moon it died

00:13:04electronically and the stone dead brick

00:13:07of a spaceship hit the moon is that

00:13:11success no not really

00:13:12let’s see five Ranger five was

00:13:16apparently worried about Ranger three

00:13:19and joined it and the great beyond

00:13:22Ranger six had a textbook three-day trip

00:13:27to the moon takes about three days to

00:13:28get to the moon and on the morning about

00:13:31there a day the people behind Ranger 6

00:13:33realized hey the spaceships working and

00:13:35now it’s falling towards the moon

00:13:37neither God nor Isaac Newton is gonna

00:13:39keep this thing from hitting the moon

00:13:41and the only thing left to do was turn

00:13:44on the TV cameras and get these cool

00:13:45pictures of the moon getting bigger and

00:13:47bigger and the commander of the cameras

00:13:50to go on and nothing happens and Ranger

00:13:53six went screaming into the moon blind

00:13:56as a bat

00:13:57razor seven actually worked

00:14:00Ranger seven actually worked and it took

00:14:04these pictures as it got closer and

00:14:07closer and closer to the moon and this

00:14:09last picture is kind of a symbol of

00:14:12Ranger 7 working because it took the

00:14:14whole picture and it was radioing it

00:14:16back and it got about halfway through

00:14:18radioing the picture back when the

00:14:20lights went out

00:14:21and so you can bet that when this

00:14:23picture showed up the people behind

00:14:25Ranger 7 were slapping each other on the

00:14:27back and drinking champagne but you can

00:14:30also bet that they were thinking my god

00:14:33it took us seven tries and two years to

00:14:38do the simplest thing that could

00:14:40possibly work how are we ever gonna do

00:14:43the whole thing and the answer is they

00:14:45were doing everything all at the same

00:14:47time so while they were trying to hit

00:14:49the hit the moon with Rangers they

00:14:51realized that well they were also

00:14:53building these giant going to the moon

00:14:55rockets but those Rockets were not going

00:14:58to be ready in time to train people

00:15:01train the astronauts train the people at

00:15:03Mission Control on the things they

00:15:05needed to know to actually make it to

00:15:08the moon so they built this whole

00:15:09separate thing

00:15:10well Gemini which is a two-person

00:15:12spaceship that would go up in the orbit

00:15:14just so that the astronauts could

00:15:17practice those going to the moon skills

00:15:19and they learned a lot in Gemini one of

00:15:23the things they learned is about

00:15:24steering rockets every spaceship has

00:15:27these Rockets all over it little tiny

00:15:30Rockets steering rockets and they make

00:15:33it turn left turn right nose out and

00:15:35those down

00:15:35spin it’s the kind of thing an airplane

00:15:37does with flaps in a rudder but there’s

00:15:39no air in space so you have these little

00:15:41rockets what they discovered in Gemini

00:15:44is what happens if one of those Rockets

00:15:48goes on and stays on and will not shut

00:15:52off and the answer is that your

00:15:55spaceship starts to spin slowly at first

00:15:57but then faster and faster and faster

00:15:59and the other thing they learned was

00:16:02that when that happens the people inside

00:16:05the spaceship after a while they can’t

00:16:07see anymore as the world literally go

00:16:09spinning around but the other thing they

00:16:12learned was that if you haven’t asked

00:16:14not in that spinning spaceship hookahs

00:16:17calm enough to work the problem while

00:16:20he’s literally spinning out of control

00:16:21and can find the controls the switches

00:16:25the throw without being able to see what

00:16:27he’s doing

00:16:28this is a survivable accident and

00:16:31survived they did that is something to

00:16:34know while they’re trying to hit the

00:16:37moon with Rangers while they’re sending

00:16:39people up in Gemini they’re building

00:16:41these enormous workshops and they’re

00:16:43building these workshops so that they

00:16:45have a place to build these gigantic

00:16:47going to the moon rockets and the end

00:16:49result of that is this this is the

00:16:54largest rocket ever built it stands

00:16:56about 27 stories tall it weighs about

00:16:59three million kilograms and it only has

00:17:01one purpose one purpose to throw the

00:17:05very pointy bit at the top the very you

00:17:08can barely see it up there at the moon

00:17:10because the very pointy bit you see if

00:17:13that are here at the top is the result

00:17:17of yet another project this is the

00:17:19Apollo mothership and this is a

00:17:23spaceship designed to keep three people

00:17:25alive for two weeks take them to the

00:17:28moon bring them back it’s got it’s a

00:17:31marvel of 1960s technology

00:17:33it’s got shielding they keep the

00:17:35radiation out it can carry food and

00:17:38water and air for three people for two

00:17:40weeks it’s got this big rocket engine on

00:17:42the bottom to blast them back to the

00:17:44earth it’s got a heat shield and

00:17:46parachutes and it floats because

00:17:48lands in the ocean it is a brilliant

00:17:51piece of technology and there’s only one

00:17:53thing wrong with it

00:17:54with all the heat shields and the

00:17:56parachutes and the big rocket engine and

00:17:59all the rest of it it’s actually too

00:18:01heavy to land on the moon it can go from

00:18:05the earth to the moon

00:18:07you can orbit around the moon and it can

00:18:09come back but it can’t make the last 50

00:18:1260 kilometer trip down to the moon so

00:18:15for that we have this this

00:18:18bizarre-looking contraption is a

00:18:21specialized little spaceship and it’s

00:18:25designed to take two of the three people

00:18:26from orbit around the moon down to the

00:18:29surface of the moon so two people get in

00:18:32this thing and go down to the moon one

00:18:34guy stays in orbit to watch the

00:18:36mothership so the plan is to send these

00:18:40two spaceships out carrying these guys

00:18:43this is a the crew of Apollo 11 they are

00:18:47the people first people to try to land

00:18:48on the surface of the moon and this guy

00:18:51here is Buzz Aldrin and he is an expert

00:18:55in space navigation or to put it another

00:18:58way in not flying off into the great

00:19:00beyond right can you imagine why they

00:19:02have him on the trip god he is one of

00:19:05the Buzz Aldrin is one of the two people

00:19:07were actually gonna try and land on the

00:19:08moon the guy on the other side is Neil

00:19:11Armstrong and we’ve already met Neil

00:19:13Armstrong Neil Armstrong was the guy in

00:19:16the spinning out of out of control

00:19:18spaceship who could work the problem

00:19:20without being able to see what he was

00:19:22doing

00:19:23can you imagine why they picked him the

00:19:26guy in the middle his name is Mike

00:19:28Collins and the guy in the middle is the

00:19:30guy who gets to stay in the mothership

00:19:32instead of landing on the moon and he’s

00:19:34got the suckiest job in the universe I

00:19:37guess his job sucks not just because he

00:19:42doesn’t get the land on the moon oh

00:19:43that’s part of it his job sucks because

00:19:46of the what else what if something

00:19:49happens to the other two on the way down

00:19:50to the moon what if something happens to

00:19:53them on the moon once they can’t get

00:19:54back in that case Colin’s job is the

00:19:58turnaround and make the three day silent

00:20:02sad journey back home leaving his

00:20:05friends behind can you that is the worst

00:20:07job in the universe it is July 20th 1969

00:20:15so Sunday it’s about I would think of it

00:20:19as four o’clock in the afternoon maybe

00:20:20you’d think of it as 1600 a few days ago

00:20:23Apollo 11 took off they’ve had a

00:20:25textbook journey to the moon a few hours

00:20:28ago this weird-looking spaceship with

00:20:31armstrong and aldrin and them separated

00:20:34and they’ve been on their way down to

00:20:36the surface of the Moon ever since they

00:20:39are about to enter the critical last 10

00:20:42minutes of that journey a part of the

00:20:44journey that NASA calls powered the sent

00:20:48back on Earth’s at Mission Control there

00:20:51is a room full of people arming for war

00:20:53their job is to watch the data streaming

00:20:57down from that weird-looking spaceship

00:20:59and be the third fourth fifth 27th pair

00:21:03of eyes making sure it’s working

00:21:04properly and they are deadly serious

00:21:07many of these people are in their late

00:21:1020s or early 30s and they have spent a

00:21:12big portion of their adult lives getting

00:21:15ready for this moment the door is locked

00:21:19there’s an armed guard on the other side

00:21:21of the door no one is getting in or out

00:21:23until this thing is over

00:21:25they’ve locked down the circuit breakers

00:21:27almost there electrical equipment they

00:21:29would rather risk a fire than have the

00:21:32lights go out at the wrong moment

00:21:34outside of Mission Control than the rest

00:21:37of the United States and in various

00:21:39places around the world there is a

00:21:40blanket of pension it’s right around now

00:21:44it’s right around 1600 in the United

00:21:47States that something weird starts to

00:21:49happen on the streets there’s very few

00:21:51cars to start with because most people

00:21:53are inside glued to their televisions

00:21:56but just right around now it’s right

00:21:58around 1600 that the cars that are on

00:22:01the roads start to pull off on city

00:22:03streets they find a place to park on

00:22:06highways that go off onto the shoulder

00:22:08on rural roads they just stop the

00:22:12drivers can’t drive and

00:22:14until their radio listen to what’s going

00:22:17on above the moon at the same time

00:22:20in this very Monst house in Philadelphia

00:22:24on the east coast of the United States a

00:22:26ten-year-old boy and his dad are sitting

00:22:29on their couch watching the coverage on

00:22:31TV it’s right around now it’s right

00:22:34around 1600 that the dad gets up walks

00:22:37about halfway to the TV gets down and

00:22:41puts his hand on his head and that’s the

00:22:44way he’ll stay until it’s over they’re

00:22:47watching this guy this is Walter

00:22:50Cronkite they’re watching you on TV

00:22:51Walter Cronkite is the kind of the king

00:22:54of TV news guys in the United States the

00:22:57Cronkite’s thing is that nothing upsets

00:23:00him nothing bothers him he regularly

00:23:03goes to war zones where people are

00:23:05shooting at him and report to them this

00:23:07very even voice what slate they have

00:23:10people tried to kill you it is 1605 just

00:23:15right at the beginning about last 10

00:23:17minutes down to the surface of the Moon

00:23:19Armstrong and Aldrin are at 15,000

00:23:22meters they’ve gone through about a

00:23:23quarter of their fuel to get here and

00:23:25things are not going well the problem is

00:23:29that their radio is not really working

00:23:32right they can talk to the ground for a

00:23:35few minutes but then look at these huge

00:23:37bursts of static and even worse it’s not

00:23:40just the voice their data is dropping

00:23:42out as well and they need that third

00:23:44fourth twenty seven pair of eyes

00:23:46watching this machine so Armstrong and

00:23:49Aldrin they’re doing what you would

00:23:50expect people to do when the radio isn’t

00:23:52working they’re changing channels and

00:23:55adjusting the antenna so they basically

00:23:57have their heads down playing with the

00:23:58technology and fortunately they have

00:24:01time to do that because they are not

00:24:03actually flying the spaceship there is a

00:24:06new cool gadget that’s flying that

00:24:08spaceship it’s called a computer and

00:24:11while it’s the rockets and the

00:24:14spacesuits and all the other flashy

00:24:15technology that gets all of the all of

00:24:18the press the computer in that little

00:24:21spaceship and the especially the

00:24:24software in that computer is no less of

00:24:27a leap into the

00:24:28just barely possible and in fact the

00:24:31woman who designed the software that is

00:24:34flying that little spaceship let me

00:24:37pause here for a minute and say that

00:24:39again someone got to say this often

00:24:41enough the woman who designed that

00:24:44software a woman named Margaret Hamilton

00:24:47has realized that what she’s doing is

00:24:50different than the software that people

00:24:52have been we’re doing before it’s

00:24:54different because it’s doing 25 things

00:24:57all at the same time and it’s

00:24:58prioritizing its job and it’s doing

00:25:00everything in real time and so Hamilton

00:25:04she comes up with a new term for the

00:25:07kind of software development she’s doing

00:25:11she calls it software engineering and

00:25:15Hamilton software the reason that they

00:25:18have Hamilton software in that computer

00:25:20is that Apollo 11 is not just trying to

00:25:23generically land someplace on the moon

00:25:25they are trying to land at a particular

00:25:27pre-selected spot on the moon now when

00:25:34they were planning the mission when they

00:25:37were planning the mission there was a

00:25:38certain amount of controversy over where

00:25:40they should land on the one side there

00:25:42were the scientists and the geologists

00:25:45who are saying yeah yeah yeah this is

00:25:47all about the Cold War but this is the

00:25:48scientific opportunity of a lifetime we

00:25:51have got to land someplace

00:25:52scientifically interesting and on the

00:25:55other side there are the astronauts and

00:25:57the rocket scientists kind of bored

00:25:59saying yeah okay what’s scientifically

00:26:01interesting and the geologists and the

00:26:04scientists are like the bottom of a

00:26:06valley would be good but you know it

00:26:08would be better you know it would be

00:26:09better but the bottom of a canyon the

00:26:13very bottom of a can no no even better

00:26:16the top of a mountain the summit of a

00:26:19mountain but you have to get all the way

00:26:20at the top no no even better the rim of

00:26:24a crater right right there on the rim to

00:26:30which the astronauts and the rocket

00:26:33scientists say yeah no we’re not landing

00:26:35anywhere near any of those places and so

00:26:38in the end it’s the rocket scientists

00:26:40who win the

00:26:41and so Apollo 11 is aimed at the

00:26:44flattest dullest most geologically

00:26:46uninteresting spot that NASA can

00:26:48possibly find the computers flying them

00:26:51there it is 1610 five minutes into that

00:26:5510 minute flight down to the moon

00:26:57Armstrong and Aldrin are down to 11,000

00:26:59meters they’ve gone through about 50% of

00:27:02their fuel and good news the radio is

00:27:04working nobody knows why the radio

00:27:06wasn’t working but now it’s working

00:27:08great and you got to believe that

00:27:10Armstrong and Aldrin or maybe taking a

00:27:12breath and thinking well maybe it’s

00:27:14gonna go well from here you know maybe

00:27:15that was our problem when a display in

00:27:18front of them lights up and it says 1202

00:27:211202 is a message from their computer

00:27:24now I know none of us here are really

00:27:27that familiar with those old computers

00:27:29so let me see if I can translate 1202

00:27:32and there’s something just a little more

00:27:34modern

00:27:35or maybe this right bunch of programmers

00:27:39their computer is glitching Armstrong

00:27:43radios down to Mission Control 1202

00:27:46what’s 1202 because there’s hundreds of

00:27:49these error codes the people in Mission

00:27:51Control they have this moment a frozen

00:27:53horror

00:27:53what’s 1202 there’s hundreds of these

00:27:56codes and there’s one guy in that room

00:27:58he’s in his twenties his name is Steve

00:28:00bales and he is an expert on Margaret

00:28:03Hamilton software and he knows that 1202

00:28:06means that the program that the software

00:28:08is falling behind it’s being called on

00:28:11the do more stuff than it can get to but

00:28:14he also knows that when that happens the

00:28:17programs do the most important things

00:28:19first and right now there’s only one

00:28:21important thing fly the darn spaceship

00:28:23so they he has maybe three seconds to

00:28:28make this decision and he just says just

00:28:33ignored the 1202 it’s just keep going

00:28:35just don’t pay no attention so they

00:28:39radiate this up to the astronauts but

00:28:41the astronauts they just can’t quite

00:28:43ignore the 1202 z– for one thing

00:28:46there’s a bad user interface design

00:28:48there’s a bad user interface design they

00:28:50have to the 1202 appears and they have

00:28:53to physically push a button the clear

00:28:55and if they don’t it just sits there and

00:28:57they kind of want to see what the next

00:28:58error code is because she ignored the

00:29:001202 s but what if the next ones 867

00:29:03which means the engine fell off or

00:29:05something right

00:29:06so they both have their heads down and

00:29:08they’re pushing these buttons clearing

00:29:10the error codes it is sixteen twelve

00:29:14seven minutes into that last ten minute

00:29:16of flight they’re down to 600 meters

00:29:19they’ve gone through four-fifths of

00:29:20their fuel and good news the twelve or

00:29:23twos go away nobody knows why they came

00:29:25nobody knows why they’re gone but

00:29:27they’re gone and finally finally finally

00:29:31Armstrong has a chance to look up and

00:29:33look out the window right he’s got these

00:29:36this little triangular window in front

00:29:39of them now if you’re flying into Berlin

00:29:43or New York or London and your airplanes

00:29:46at 600 meters that means you’re getting

00:29:48ready to land right your tray table is

00:29:50up your seatbelt is fastened you can

00:29:53look out the window and see individual

00:29:55cars you can see people and you can see

00:29:57if those people are carrying their

00:29:58shopping right at 600 meters Berlin or

00:30:02London or New York it’s not the place on

00:30:05the map it’s not you know where the

00:30:08conference is next week it’s not that

00:30:11place you’re going to at 600 meters

00:30:13Berlin or New York or London

00:30:15it’s a place it’s all around you

00:30:19Armstrong looks out the window at 600

00:30:21meters and for the first time in human

00:30:24history the moon is not that light up in

00:30:27the sky it’s not this geopolitical we’re

00:30:31gonna kick the Russians butts by getting

00:30:33there first thing it is a place it’s all

00:30:36around them he can look down and they

00:30:38can see the ground scrolling beneath

00:30:40them and there’s rocks and hills and

00:30:42things like that he can look in the

00:30:44distance and he can see a mountain on

00:30:46the horizon and the mountain is higher

00:30:48than he is six hundred meters the moon

00:30:51is a place now nobody really knows what

00:30:56went through Armstrong’s mind at that

00:30:59moment right only you would know like

00:31:01imagine if you were him what would go

00:31:04through your mind I know exactly how I

00:31:07would feel looking

00:31:09out that window and the word what I

00:31:11would feel feel and the word is fear the

00:31:16moon is a place it’s the wrong place

00:31:20Armstrong has been studying maps and

00:31:23photographs they’ve made little plaster

00:31:25models he knows exactly what he should

00:31:27see when he looks out that window and

00:31:29this is not it and then it gets worse

00:31:33because on that window there is this

00:31:36scale and Armstrong can kind of use the

00:31:40scales like a gunsight you Linus I up

00:31:43and look down at the ground and he can

00:31:45see where the computer is taking them

00:31:46the land so he does that he lines us I

00:31:49where’s this thing taking us and he sees

00:31:52that a very geologically interesting

00:31:57crater and even where the crater is not

00:32:00that big craters about the size of a

00:32:02football stadium yours or mine is a

00:32:04matter but the crater is surrounded by a

00:32:07huge debris field of boulders river

00:32:10right what’s a crater big rock comes

00:32:11down from the sky boom right there stuff

00:32:14all over the place and so there’s this

00:32:17huge debris field of boulders Armstrong

00:32:21looks at that for a few seconds and he

00:32:23makes a very Neil Armstrong decision he

00:32:27turns off the autopilot and he does two

00:32:30things

00:32:30he kills most of their downward the sin

00:32:33and he starts zooming forward he does

00:32:37that because he thinks he can see in the

00:32:39distance past the boulder field it looks

00:32:42like there’s a reasonably flat place to

00:32:44land and he’s got to get there before

00:32:47they run out of fuel meanwhile back at

00:32:51Mission Control right they can see

00:32:53Armstrong turn off the autopilot and

00:32:56they can see them kill most of the

00:32:58downward descent they can see him

00:32:59zooming forward the one thing they

00:33:01cannot see is the crater there’s no live

00:33:04video feed but there is something else

00:33:06they can see they can see aren’t strong

00:33:09heart rate he’s got heart monitors and

00:33:11things all over his body and they’re

00:33:13watching this heart monitor and at the

00:33:16beginning of the powered descent

00:33:17Armstrong’s heart was beating at about

00:33:2080 beats per second probably slower than

00:33:23right now he’s only landing on the moon

00:33:25right and it slowly has crept up to

00:33:28about a hundred and now in the last few

00:33:31seconds as he turns off the autopilot

00:33:33and start zooming forward it spikes up

00:33:37to one hundred and fifty clearly

00:33:39something is up the reaction of the

00:33:43people in that room in Mission Control

00:33:45to whatever emergency is going on they

00:33:48don’t know what it is but something is

00:33:50clearly up their reaction is

00:33:52extraordinary what they do is nothing

00:33:56and in fact they shut up the guy running

00:33:59the show in Mission Control towles tells

00:34:02everyone in that room he doesn’t want

00:34:03anybody talking to the astronauts

00:34:05anymore

00:34:06he only wants to send up one bit of

00:34:07information periodically how much time

00:34:11do they have left how much time before

00:34:13they run out of fuel it is sixteen

00:34:18fourteen nine minutes into that last

00:34:2010-minute flight Armstrong and Aldrin

00:34:22are down to five percent of their fuel

00:34:24they’re down to a hundred meters and

00:34:26they are it’s zooming over the boulder

00:34:28field and the edge of the boulder field

00:34:30is getting closer and closer and it

00:34:32really does look like there’s a decent

00:34:33place to land out there they don’t know

00:34:35how fast they’re going

00:34:37no one ever imagined they’d be going

00:34:39this fast this close to the ground so

00:34:41their speedometer is off the scale high

00:34:44with the edge of the boulder field is

00:34:46coming up and they feel like maybe they

00:34:48can make it it is 16 16 11 minutes into

00:34:53that 10-minute flight Armstrong and

00:34:55Aldrin are down to 10 meters they’re

00:34:57down to 3 percent of their fuel and

00:34:59they’re past the boulders and this does

00:35:01look like a decent place and Armstrong

00:35:03is jamming on the brakes to get the

00:35:05things stopped so we can lower it like a

00:35:06helicopter and it’s right around now

00:35:09that the first ominous warning comes up

00:35:11from the earth it’s just two words 60

00:35:14seconds you have one minute of fuel left

00:35:16Armstrong barely hears him because now

00:35:19he has screeched to a halt and he’s

00:35:21luring the thing down he’s trying to

00:35:23find the ground he’s trying to find the

00:35:25ground and at some point they lose sight

00:35:27of the ground because their rocket

00:35:29engine is now blowing up the huge cloud

00:35:31of dust but he knows the ground is down

00:35:34there and it’s right around now that the

00:35:36get the second warning 30 seconds for

00:35:39God’s sake land this thing

00:35:42Armstrong barely hear some cuss Kenny’s

00:35:44just trying to find the ground

00:35:46Aldrin looks out the window and he

00:35:48reports that he can see a shadow on the

00:35:49ground it’s the shadow of the spaceship

00:35:51they are really close now and then our

00:35:54Aldrin looks at the instrument panel and

00:35:56there’s a little amber light and it’s

00:35:59labeled contact and as he looks at if

00:36:01the astronauts call it the contact light

00:36:03and as he looks at it it comes on

00:36:07contact light means that the sensors on

00:36:10the landing gear of this weird-looking

00:36:12thing if touched something hard contact

00:36:16light means they’ve landed contact light

00:36:19means that these two guys are not gonna

00:36:21die and better they’re not going to fail

00:36:25contact light means that Armstrong and

00:36:28Aldrin that those people at Mission

00:36:30Control that the United States of

00:36:32America that humanity has arrived but

00:36:38Armstrong and Aldrin are not quite done

00:36:42the plan had been to fly the thing to

00:36:45about half a meter over the surface and

00:36:48turn off the rocket engine and let it

00:36:49fall the rest of the way but Armstrong

00:36:51and Aldrin you know they were too busy

00:36:53not dying to do that so now they’re

00:36:55sitting on the surface burning the last

00:36:57of their rocket fuel and they need to

00:36:59turn off this complicated dangerous

00:37:01machine full of explosives very

00:37:04carefully and so they have a shutdown

00:37:06checklist that they go through and they

00:37:08do it together one of them will you know

00:37:11do the step and the other one will read

00:37:13it and check the pair astronaut and so

00:37:16Armstrong starts he says shut down and

00:37:18then Aldrin says okay engine stop ACA

00:37:21out of detent and they go through this

00:37:23long chain of mumbo-jumbo as they’re

00:37:26shutting all the systems down meanwhile

00:37:28the people back on earth right they can

00:37:30see that the spaceship is stopped moving

00:37:34data is streaming down they can see that

00:37:36they can watch the system’s get shut off

00:37:38and they get here Armstrong a tall drink

00:37:40going through the shutdown checklist and

00:37:42you would think that at this moment

00:37:44somebody would say something momentous

00:37:46something historical it’s not really how

00:37:49people are

00:37:50guy on the ground radios up the

00:37:53completely obvious statement we think he

00:37:55landed right Armstrong

00:37:59really doesn’t respond to that he gets

00:38:01the last step on the shutdown checklist

00:38:03he says engine arm off and then he says

00:38:06the words they had made up the words

00:38:08that he had practiced the words that he

00:38:10wanted to be the first words spoken from

00:38:13another world

00:38:14he says Houston that’s where Mission

00:38:16Control is tranquility base here I’m

00:38:20sharing an alternate land in the place

00:38:21on the moon called The Sea of

00:38:22Tranquility the Eagle that’s the name of

00:38:26the little spaceship has landed and with

00:38:30those words there’s highly disciplined

00:38:34nerdy engineers and Mission Control with

00:38:36their white shirts and their black ties

00:38:38and their crew cuts as a group stand up

00:38:42and start shouting you can imagine this

00:38:46some shouting going on in those cars

00:38:48right remember the cars pulled off to

00:38:50the side of the road right what would

00:38:51you do if you’re sitting on that car

00:38:52listening to this right steering wheel

00:38:55shout look around see if anybody’s

00:38:58watching you you know certainly they’re

00:39:00shouting going on in that house in

00:39:02Philadelphia takes a ten-year-old boy

00:39:04just a few seconds to realize hey

00:39:06they’ve done that they’ve done this this

00:39:07is really did it and then he realizes

00:39:10that his dad is no longer down in that

00:39:12crouch but his dad is jumping up and

00:39:14down is shouting and shouting louder

00:39:16he’s never heard his dad shell and then

00:39:19the boy realized it’s not just this dad

00:39:21who’s shouting it’s the people next door

00:39:23it’s the people on the other side some

00:39:25people across the street the whole

00:39:27neighborhood is shouting and it’s the

00:39:29kind of noise that you don’t exactly

00:39:30hear if you feel in your stomach and it

00:39:33comes in waves so it’ll be really layout

00:39:35and then a little trail off and you

00:39:36think it’s gonna stop it no it gets

00:39:38really loud again and amidst all the

00:39:41shouting the boy focuses back on the

00:39:43television and he sees the second

00:39:46incredible thing of the day it’s there

00:39:49on TV it was just for a second the

00:39:50camera cut away just for a second but he

00:39:53saw it he did saw it just for a second

00:39:57there was Walter Cronkite prying

00:40:07that is my story um I say that I say

00:40:13it’s my story it’s not really it’s your

00:40:19story if you think about that story

00:40:23everything that was done in that story

00:40:25was done by people like you

00:40:27if you roll out of bed in the morning

00:40:29and you just want to build the next cool

00:40:32thing story belongs to you right it is

00:40:35part of our common cultural heritage and

00:40:38I don’t care if you grew up in the

00:40:40United States like I did or the old

00:40:42Soviet Union here in Germany elsewhere

00:40:45in Europe Asia it doesn’t matter if

00:40:47you’re one of us this story belongs to

00:40:50you but I did say that this story had

00:40:55lessons to teach us things to teach us

00:40:57so let me try and make the case that

00:40:58other than just being kind of a fun

00:41:00story it has things that teach us and it

00:41:03has little things to teach us in great

00:41:04big things to teach us so let me start

00:41:07with the little things you know what

00:41:08this story teaches us about little

00:41:10things in a complicated technical

00:41:12project like either software or going to

00:41:14the moon little things can kill you

00:41:17right let’s talk about the things that

00:41:20went wrong in that last 10 minutes right

00:41:23why did their radio stopped working

00:41:25right for five minutes their radio

00:41:28didn’t really work why was that well it

00:41:30turns out that has to do with the

00:41:32steering rockets from steering rockets

00:41:34well the problem wasn’t that the

00:41:36steering rockets on this thing didn’t

00:41:39function the problem was that the

00:41:42engineers behind this weird-looking

00:41:44spaceship a few months before it took

00:41:47off got worried that the steering

00:41:49rockets would actually burn through the

00:41:51skin of the spaceship some of these

00:41:53steering rockets were kind of pointed

00:41:54close to parts of the skin so they put

00:41:56these shields on it they keep the

00:41:59steering deflect the rocket exhaust so

00:42:01if they can get you know burn through

00:42:02the skin and those shields worked really

00:42:04well at the flexing the rocket exhaust

00:42:06it also worked really well at reflecting

00:42:08the radio signals and at certain angles

00:42:11it would screw up the radio

00:42:13communications guess which angles

00:42:15the earth is like right here when you’re

00:42:17trying to land on the moon they had

00:42:18never done that before

00:42:19right little things can kill you a

00:42:21couple of pieces of sheet metal can kill

00:42:24you and you know here’s a here’s a

00:42:26machine that has two million parts

00:42:28somebody puts a couple of pieces of

00:42:29sheet metal on it and it almost fails

00:42:32why did their computer crash their

00:42:36computer crashed because I had a couple

00:42:38of different modes one mode was tracked

00:42:41the ground that’s the mode it should

00:42:43have been in right pay no attention

00:42:44anything else tracked the grounds the

00:42:47mode it was actually in there was a

00:42:49switch you could select the mode the

00:42:51mode it was actually in was tracked the

00:42:53ground and the mothership at the same

00:42:55time well it turned out it couldn’t

00:42:57actually do that and started fall behind

00:42:59because the switch was in the wrong

00:43:01place right switch is in the wrong place

00:43:03that can kill you couple of pieces of

00:43:05sheet metal can kill you why were they

00:43:08off course they had this pinpoint

00:43:10landing picked out how did they get off

00:43:12course for that we need to go a few

00:43:14hours before the landing when these two

00:43:17spaceships were hooked together when

00:43:19they were hooked together there was like

00:43:20a tunnel that ran between them so the

00:43:21people could go back and forth and when

00:43:24they were getting ready to separate they

00:43:25closed the hatch at one end of the

00:43:27tunnel close the hatch at the other end

00:43:28and what they were supposed to do was

00:43:31pump all the air out of that tunnel well

00:43:33maybe they’re in a hurry maybe their

00:43:35minds were on other things didn’t quite

00:43:37get all of the air out of the tunnel so

00:43:39when they separated there was a puff of

00:43:41air that changed the speed of the lander

00:43:45by one kilometer per hour thing is going

00:43:481,700 kilometers per hour and it gets

00:43:51bumped and so that speed changes by one

00:43:53kilometer per hour what possible

00:43:55difference could one kilometer per hour

00:43:57make over two hours two kilometers the

00:44:02distance between a nice flat boring

00:44:04landing site and the crater of death

00:44:07right little things can kill you but you

00:44:11know what else

00:44:12the reason they overcame the thing the

00:44:15little things that almost killed this

00:44:17effort was trust think about the people

00:44:21in Mission Control when Armstrong he

00:44:25turned off the autopilot they did not

00:44:27radio up to him

00:44:28Neal you’ve turned off your targeting

00:44:30computer what’s the matter

00:44:31they simply they simply you know went

00:44:36trusted him

00:44:38when the computer crashed

00:44:41Armstrong asked Mission Control Mission

00:44:44Control asked Steve bales Steve bales

00:44:46basically trusted Margaret Hamilton and

00:44:49our software this was a chain of trust a

00:44:52quarter of a million miles long right

00:44:55Trust is what overcame the little things

00:44:58that went wrong there’s also I think

00:45:02something we can learn about leadership

00:45:04you need real leadership to do something

00:45:07like this you need real leadership to do

00:45:09the kind of stuff we do but in

00:45:13particular you need to know the

00:45:14difference between a leader and a hero I

00:45:16think we in the software industry we

00:45:20spend too much of our time worrying

00:45:21about heroes and heroics and what we

00:45:23really need are leaders like take this

00:45:26picture

00:45:27as an American I got to tell you I look

00:45:29at this picture every time and it grabs

00:45:30me right it’s very heroic and that’s the

00:45:33problem with it it looks like it was

00:45:35perfect it looks like there was this guy

00:45:38and he flew this perfect trip to the

00:45:40moon and he got out and he took this

00:45:41lovely picture and it was all flawless

00:45:43we know that’s not the case we know that

00:45:46this was thing was a struggle every step

00:45:49of the way I like instead of this

00:45:53picture you know what I like I like the

00:45:55shutdown checklist

00:45:56I like the shutdown checklist because it

00:46:01speaks to me of leadership right these

00:46:05are the words of two guys trying to get

00:46:07the job done at the end of a really bad

00:46:11day I like these words especially it

00:46:15makes me feel closer to this thing

00:46:16because these are the kind of thing this

00:46:18is the kind of mumbo-jumbo jargon that

00:46:21we speak to each other with all the time

00:46:23right our jargon is a little different

00:46:26than this jargon but it’s the same kind

00:46:27of incomprehensible nonsense right I

00:46:29could be saying something almost this

00:46:32incomprehensible bit as this when I go

00:46:34to work you you to these are the words

00:46:36of people like us you know what else

00:46:39these are these are the first word

00:46:42spoken from another world I like that

00:46:44they’re real words I like that they’re

00:46:46people trying to finish the job that’s

00:46:49something to remember that’s leadership

00:46:51and that that kind of brings me to the

00:46:54bigger lessons I think of the moon

00:46:57landing and I think the big lesson of

00:47:01the moon landing starts with the idea

00:47:03that when you do something technically

00:47:05difficult something technically cool you

00:47:08cannot predict the outcome right and so

00:47:13for example we went to the moon

00:47:15to win the cold war and kick the

00:47:16Russians butts and a funny thing

00:47:19happened on the way to the moon funny

00:47:21thing happened on the way to the moon we

00:47:23look back we looked over our shoulder

00:47:25and we saw that we see ourselves we saw

00:47:30a place in the universe now I know for

00:47:33maybe everybody here most of you anyway

00:47:37pictures like this they’re just kind of

00:47:39part of the wallpaper you seen them a

00:47:40thousand times right they don’t even

00:47:42register anymore people put them on

00:47:44t-shirts they’re the backgrounds on

00:47:46computers I would like for you to try to

00:47:49imagine that you have gotten to a

00:47:51certain point in your life having never

00:47:52seen a picture like this before and then

00:47:55one day somebody comes and slaps it down

00:47:57in front of you how would it make you

00:47:59feel what would you say I can tell you

00:48:04you say holy mother of God that’s

00:48:07everything that’s all of us it’s all

00:48:09we’ve ever known that is every birthday

00:48:13it’s every first day of school it’s

00:48:15every graduation it’s every first date

00:48:17it’s every love-affair – every marriage

00:48:20it’s every wedding anniversary it’s

00:48:23every funeral it’s every birthday so all

00:48:26we are it’s everything we’ve ever known

00:48:28it’s beautiful it’s tiny it’s out there

00:48:33in the black and then you think for a

00:48:35second and you think maybe we should

00:48:38take care of it

00:48:39it’s no coincidence in my opinion that

00:48:44pictures like this coincide almost

00:48:46exactly with modern environmentalism as

00:48:49a mass political movement you look at

00:48:52the picture and it just comes to you

00:48:53right

00:48:55do something difficult you do something

00:48:56technically sweet and you cannot predict

00:48:59the outcome which and that kind of

00:49:04brings me to what I think of is the big

00:49:06lesson kind of the why lesson of the

00:49:09story and it’s something I have a hard

00:49:11time putting into words and mostly I

00:49:14think of it as a conversation I think of

00:49:16it as maybe you and I go out and have a

00:49:19beer you think we could find a beer in

00:49:20Berlin you and I go out and have a beer

00:49:23and maybe one of us it doesn’t matter

00:49:26which has an idea and it doesn’t matter

00:49:28what the idea is maybe you want to get

00:49:29rich selling pet food on the internet

00:49:31maybe I want to create a new programming

00:49:33language or a database or something

00:49:35doesn’t matter right now maybe you’re

00:49:38against the idea and so you’re trying to

00:49:39argue me out of the idea and you could

00:49:42tell me it’s a bad idea you know no one

00:49:46will be interested or it won’t you know

00:49:47it won’t make any money and sure we

00:49:49could talk about that you could tell me

00:49:51that maybe they’ll just make society

00:49:53more unfair that it’ll be bad for people

00:49:56and sure you know we could talk about

00:49:57that or it’ll make your hair fall out of

00:49:59your teeth right I don’t know you know

00:50:01and we’re gonna talk about all these

00:50:02things the one thing you can’t tell me

00:50:05one thing I just won’t believe is that

00:50:08it is not possible

00:50:11I just won’t believe you see I’m

00:50:13familiar with the impossible I saw it on

00:50:16a TV when I was a kid for me the

00:50:20ultimate lesson of Apollo is that when

00:50:23you do something hard when you do

00:50:24something technically sweet well

00:50:26congratulations you have the thing great

00:50:28but there’s this other effect that goes

00:50:31out from it it’s like a wave it’s a wave

00:50:34of belief if she can do that maybe I can

00:50:39do that it’s a it makes people believe

00:50:43in the possibilities if he can do that

00:50:45maybe I can do something like that makes

00:50:47people believe in themselves I can do it

00:50:50I know this for a fact I know this for a

00:50:53fact because I am the result of one of

00:50:56those ways I am a child of Apollo I sat

00:51:01on that couch and my life changed it got

00:51:05off of whatever path have had been on

00:51:08and it got on a different path a path

00:51:10that led me to the University and to

00:51:12engineering and programming a little

00:51:15while after that to writing books and a

00:51:18little while after that to being here

00:51:20with you this morning for me the

00:51:23ultimate lesson of Apollo really has

00:51:26very little to do with space travel or

00:51:29astronauts or any of that stuff and it

00:51:31has everything to do with belief now I

00:51:35said that the story belongs to you and

00:51:37it does but the story comes with a

00:51:39challenge and challenge is to do the

00:51:44best thing to build the best thing that

00:51:47you possibly can you build it because

00:51:49it’s worth building you build it because

00:51:52it will inspire your co-workers you

00:51:56build it because it will inspire the

00:51:59people coming up through the profession

00:52:02behind you you build it for the next

00:52:05bunch of 10 year olds so for me the

00:52:09ultimate lesson of Apollo is all the way

00:52:13back so the words that started it all

00:52:16all those decades ago we choose to go to

00:52:20the moon not because it’s easy but

00:52:24because it’s hard go do something hard

00:52:28thank you

00:52:38you