"The Right Kind of Crazy A True Story of Teamwork, Leadership, and High-Stakes Innovation Adam Steltzner with William Patrick The true story of how an unlikely leader helped inspire a team of rocket scientists to achieve the near impossible: landing a two-thousand pound rover on Mars. Few organizations solve as many impossible problems as NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and nobody knows more about leading rocket scientists to unlikely breakthroughs than Adam Steltzner. As the phase lead and development manager for EDL (entry, descent and landing) of the Curiosity rover to Mars, Steltzner spearheaded the creation of one of engineering's wackiest kluges-- the sky crane-- that allowed the heaviest rover in the history of space exploration to land on Mars unscathed. Steltzner is no ordinary engineer. His path to leadership was about as unlikely as they come. A child of beatnik parents, he was a daredevil and avid mountain biker, breaking thirty-two bones before squeaking through high school. He blew off college in favor of work at a health food store and playing bass in a band. After an interest in the movement of the stars led him to enroll part time at community college, Steltzner discovered an astonishing gift for math and physics. Within years he got his PhD and ensconced himself within the offbeat Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA's decidedly unbureaucratic cousin, where success in a mission is the only metric that matters"--
Record details
ISBN:1591846927
ISBN:9781591846925
Physical Description:246 pages ; 24 cm print
Publisher:New York, New York : Portfolio/Penguin, [2016]
Content descriptions
General Note:
Includes index.
Formatted Contents Note:
Sinatra, and a lot of brass -- How curiosity changed my life -- Hold on to the doubt -- Self-authorization -- Systems engineers -- Truth seekers -- The Dark Room -- The least unacceptable solution -- Puzzle pieces -- The right kind of crazy -- Appreciating the mundane -- Seven minutes of terror.