Book Review: Moonshot by Mike Massimino

“Former NASA astronaut and New York Times bestselling author Mike Massimino—the first person to tweet from space, professor at Columbia University, and expert speaker—delivers lessons for teamwork, innovation, and leadership to the average person. Based on thrilling, firsthand accounts of space exploration, Moonshot offers actionable insights on getting the little things right to accomplish our biggest goals.”

Goodreads blurb for Moonshot

Review:

It’s been a while since I’ve picked up any kind of space travel book. After the Artemis II mission, I was inspired to scroll through my audiobook library. How did I manage to forget how much I enjoy this topic?

Astronaut Mike Massimino has a different approach to his memoir than others I’ve read. Although he does share stories about his life and his NASA career, it’s written as more of an inspirational guide for approaching life. His perseverance and the outlook that he formed as an astronaut can be applied to everyday life. 

I picked up this book for the space travel and walked away feeling uplifted. Of course, I still loved hearing the stories about space, but that part will only ever be lived out through books for me, and it was nice to also be left with some tools that may help in certain areas of my own life, especially matters involving teamwork.

If you’re new to NASA memoirs or books about space travel in general, this book is an excellent one to start with. Sitting around 200 pages, it’s not daunting and it is written in a way that doesn’t require the reader to be familiar with technical terminology.

Likes & Dislikes:

What I liked:

• Inspirational.
• Can be applied to the average person and not just people in science.

What I didn’t like:

• Very short.

Afterthoughts:

I’m definitely planning on getting a physical copy of this book!

Where to buy the book: