No Dream Is Too High

• CHAPTER TWO • KEEP YOUR MIND OPEN TO POSSIBILITIES.

I’ve often said, “Your mind is like a parachute: If it isn’t open, it doesn’t work.”

Innovators and explorers like to ponder what might be possible, not merely what is expected. That’s why I try to stay open to new ideas. I’m constantly dreaming up new things, sketching new rocket designs, and looking for new areas to explore.

“Innovation” is my middle name … unless I decide to change it to “Lightyear.” In fact, one of the awards of which I am most proud is the Lifetime Innovation Achievement Award I received in 2015 from New Jersey, the state where I lived as a boy.

Speaking of my name, people often ask me, “Colonel Aldrin, is Buzz your real name?”

The answer is yes. Although my parents named me Edwin Eugene Aldrin, Jr., when I was born, Fay Ann, my two-year-old sister, had difficulty pronouncing “brother,” so she called me “Buzzer.” No doubt, over the years, a few people have called me “Buzzard,” but from the time I was a baby, the name Buzz has been a part of my life. Years later, after Apollo 11, and after my father, for whom I had been named, passed away, I legally changed my name simply for the convenience and clarity. But although Buzz is now my real legal name, innovation is my guiding spirit. I’ve always been quick to try new ideas, especially new ways of doing things in space.

During the early years of space exploration, a number of the initial Russian cosmonauts and American astronauts had experienced nausea during their first trips into space. Their bodies simply weren’t accustomed to the unusual sensations and disorientation brought on by trying to move and work in a weightless environment. In preparation for my Gemini 12 space walk, I welcomed the opportunity to become the first astronaut trained underwater in a swimming pool to simulate the effects of neutral buoyancy, trying to maneuver in a weightless environment in space. Some of my colleagues thought I was being eccentric, but the sensations in the pool prepared me for what it might feel like drifting along at 17,500 miles an hour, tethered to a spacecraft.

Ironically, in space exploration, as in business or any other area of life, past success can be the greatest obstacle to future innovation. Even wonderfully brilliant people can become entrenched in the status quo, stuck in the usual way of doing things. One of the greatest impediments to discovery is the attitude that says, “We don’t do things that way,” or its counterpart, “We’ve never done things that way.” Which basically means, “I don’t want to change.”

So we’ve never done it that way before? Great! Let’s try something new; let’s come up with a different approach, another way of reaching our goals. You have to stay open to the possibilities. Remember, your mind is like a parachute: If it isn’t open, it doesn’t work. So keep an open mind!

It was a man with an open mind who made it physically possible for human beings to land on the Moon. Many people have never heard of him, but John Houbolt was the man who may have saved the space program.

During the early days of television and motion pictures, it was not uncommon to see a science fiction movie depicting an enormous spacecraft blasting off from Earth and landing on the Moon. That single spacecraft idea had become so embedded in people’s minds, rarely did anyone question how in the world we were going to send a massive rocket like that to the Moon, land on the surface, explore, then blast off again and return to Earth, where we’d need another safe landing. Even scientists were baffled, scratching their heads in frustration because everyone thought in terms of only one gigantic spacecraft.

Everyone, that is, except John Houbolt, a bright, clever NASA engineer. John came up with the concept of using two specialized spacecraft—a command/service module and a lunar landing module—rather than one heavy spaceship in our efforts to get to the Moon, land on the surface, and get back home. The command module would stay in orbit around the Moon while the lunar landing module would be equipped with a “descent” stage that could be left on the surface, as well as an “ascent” stage with its own engine for blasting off the Moon and then rendezvousing with the command module. This was especially important because the lunar lander’s rocket motors did not have to be nearly so large, since they would be needed only to power the ascent section until it rendezvoused with the command module for the return trip back to Earth.

It was a novel idea, and many people at NASA questioned John’s “fanciful notions,” but they finally realized the advantages of having two spacecraft rather than one huge one. John’s willingness to keep his mind open and to think creatively opened the door to whole new vistas of space exploration.

Another brilliant, open-minded engineer who worked with us on the Apollo program was Hubert (Hu) Davis. Although the astronauts training for a potential landing on the Moon might not have realized it early on, the lunar landing modules (LMs) were too heavy to safely land. Hubert Davis was the project manager for LM-5, and when he heard about the problem and that his spacecraft was not slated to land, he said to NASA, “We’ll work to reduce the weight, if you will consider putting LM-5 as the first lander.” Hu and his team went back to work. They tried everything they knew to do.

After five versions of the LM (LM-1 to LM-5), it was still too heavy. Hubert didn’t say, “Well, that’s too bad; that’s what the lander has to be, so deal with it.” No, just the opposite. Hubert Davis put his mind to work on every way possible to reduce the weight load of the lunar lander, considering everything from the metallic materials used on the outside “skin” of the lander to how many pens Neil and I carried aboard the spacecraft. Every ounce mattered.

When almost everyone said it was impossible, Hubert Davis found a way to lighten the weight of the LM, making it possible for LM-5 to land on the Moon. Because of Hu’s imaginative thinking, NASA began offering financial bonuses to aerospace companies and contractors who could reduce the weight of the LMs in production. Had Hu not found a way, Neil and I would not have attempted a landing during Apollo 11, and NASA would have been forced to wait for LM-6 and Apollo 12—or possibly even later—to land. So in a very real way, Hubert Davis made it possible for Neil and me to land on the Moon. Why? Because Hubert Davis kept his mind open to the possibilities.

INNOVATORS ARE OFTEN OUT OF SYNC with many people around them. No doubt about it—from Leonardo da Vinci to my friend Sir Richard Branson, owner of Virgin Galactic—some of history’s most creative people have been a bit quirky. Anyone who saw Albert Einstein trudging along the sidewalks of Princeton University with a briar pipe hanging out of his mouth might have assumed the odd fellow in the old, frumpy overcoat and socks that didn’t match was a hobo. Today, students at Princeton are still studying Einstein’s formulas and ideas, and his adage “Subtle is the Lord, but malicious He is not” is inscribed in the stone mantel of the fireplace in the mathematics building on campus. I guess I used many of Einstein’s ideas when I developed my own mathematical equations regarding space rendezvous.

Because of my fascination with rendezvous principles necessary for the lunar module to lift off the Moon’s surface and be reunited with the command module, some of my fellow astronauts thought I was obsessed with the subject. They called me “Dr. Rendezvous,” usually with respect, but sometimes with a hint of derision as well. I didn’t care; I knew I was a little out of sync with my buddies, but that was okay. I was doing what I loved.

Sometimes innovators come across as arrogant, stubborn, or unreasonable. I’m sorry to say that I probably did, too, while working as an astronaut. Think of people such as Elon Musk, the driving force behind SpaceX, the company upon whom America is currently relying to deliver supplies and equipment to the International Space Station. Or think of Jeff Bezos, who founded Amazon.​com, or Steve Jobs, the whiz behind Apple’s success. As young men, they were out of sync with many of their peers; they saw things differently, wanted to do things differently. They refused to simply accept the “usual” way. Rather than seeing the world with a “that’s just the way things are” attitude, they developed an intense, indefatigable desire to improve the world by radically changing the way things could be done. We relish their successes today, acknowledging that these innovators and others like them have changed our world to fit their vision of how life can be better.

Average people tend to think about merely maintaining the status quo; unsuccessful people think about simply surviving. Innovators and explorers think about what might be possible.

PARENTS AND EDUCATORS OFTEN ASK me, “Buzz, how can we help foster the sort of innovation that took you to the Moon?”

First and foremost, it is important to understand that whether by nature or nurture, innovators approach the world differently. Keeping that in mind might help you to regard your boss with greater respect, or your artist friend, or the kid who wants to sit around playing his guitar all day long. Certainly, some people are born with innovation in their veins. I think I was. My father loved flying and exposed me to the possibilities of flight early in my life, but something inside me responded far beyond what my father might have imagined.

I also think that innovation can be encouraged when parents and educators understand that innovators often do not fit “the norm.” Innovators whose minds are open tend to have personality traits that others might regard as quirky or sometimes even “weird.” They are dreamers, and I am definitely one of them, so I know that innovators are rarely content merely to dream. They won’t stop there—especially if they receive some encouragement. They will become doers; they will make things happen. Innovators are usually much more self-confident than their peers; they are inner directed and willing to march to the beat of their own drums. But it sure helps having someone lay a hand on a shoulder or look the innovator in the eye and say, “I believe in you; you can do it.”

Often innovators are courageous and resilient, sometimes because they have had to develop such qualities in the face of adversity or opposition to their ideas. Almost always, they are risktakers, willing to try something new.

So understanding that the innovator’s personality causes him or her to be out of sync with others is tremendously important, especially when it comes to encouraging exploration of new concepts or new ways of doing things.

Second, it is important to understand that innovation usually takes time. Great ideas rarely move from the mind to the Moon, or to the marketplace, overnight. They need time to percolate, to improve, to develop. At NASA, we were constantly working to make improvements on our spacecraft, as well as ourselves, as we pursued our goals. Innovators need a place to do that, and in most cases, nowadays, great innovation necessitates somebody providing a physical place and the financial resources that allow creativity to thrive. Personally, I love living at the beach; the environment itself helps stimulate my thinking. For me, dull, drab, gray walls are not normally conducive to my creativity. But whatever your preferences, recognize that your physical space will be an important component in stifling or fostering your creative juices. Even if you live in a small, one-room apartment, create a space around you where creativity can thrive.

Innovators must be encouraged to experiment with new ideas, new ways of doing things. Rather than being punished for mistakes or failures, they should be applauded for attempting to go where human beings have never gone before. That means innovators must be given the freedom to challenge the status quo. Certainly, this requires a great deal of patience and trust on the part of parents, educators, and CEOs, but as you look around our society, businesses as well as scientific cultures that encourage innovation are thriving. Companies such as Google and Apple have created a culture that empowers their employees to stretch, to attempt the “impossible dream,” to explore, to go after opportunities that may not always work out.

Third, to encourage innovation, we must model and communicate that “thinking” is not wasted time but is integral to the innovation process. Unfortunately, most educators and almost all employers expect thinking to be done on a person’s own time, not on the clock. Imagine you are sitting at your desk, ruminating about an idea, when your boss comes along. What’s the first thing most of us do? We try to “look busy.”

Allowing a person time and freedom to peer off into space, to daydream if you will, about an idea’s potential is not permitting that person to be idle or unproductive. It is allowing him or her to think creatively. Allowing for the thinking process to develop in a person’s mind is essential if we ever expect that individual to provide us with those voilà! moments. People who achieve the great breakthroughs in our world have usually already experienced those breakthroughs in their mental processing; they’ve seen the idea working in their mind long before they ever tried it in “real life.” Before I ever took my first walk in space, I saw it in my mind many times, imagining what it might look like, feel like, sound like—all in my mind. If we want to foster innovation, we must encourage an atmosphere that allows for creative thinking, even if, to some people who may not understand, it looks as though nothing tangible is being done or accomplished.

Innovators view change as an opportunity rather than an inconvenience or an interruption. At 86 years of age, I decided to move from Los Angeles back to near Cape Canaveral in Florida. Sure, it is challenging to deal with change, but I always want to be open to new opportunities. Most people don’t like to move out of their comfort zones, but as we all know, change is inevitable. You can resist it and complain about it as an inconvenience, or you can regard change as your chance to do something new. Keep that parachute open. Use your mind to ponder the possibilities rather than to pooh-pooh the interruptions change brings to your “normal” way of doing things.

Albert von Szent-Györgyi, the Hungarian Nobel Prize–winning physiologist who first discovered the benefits of vitamin C, was fond of saying, “Discovery lies in seeing what everyone sees, but thinking what no one else has thought.”

That was a man who kept his mind open to the possibilities, and that’s the kind of man I have tried to be, and always want to be.