Richard Wiseman - Moonshot: What Landing a Man on the Moon Teaches Us about Collaboration, Creativity, and the Mind-Set for Success

OCTOBER 1957 : Soviets launch Sputnik.

NOVEMBER 1957 : Sputnik 2 sends Laika the dog into space.

APRIL 1961 : Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin orbits the Earth.

MAY 1961 : Alan Shepard becomes the first American in space.

MAY 1961 : President John F. Kennedy announces to Congress that America will put a man on the Moon before the decade is out.

SEPTEMBER 1962 : Kennedy delivers his We choose to go to the Moon speech at Rice University.

JANUARY 1967 : Tragic Apollo1 fire results in the death of three astronauts.

DECEMBER 1968 : Apollo8 becomes the first manned mission to the Moon.

JULY 16, 1969 : Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins begin their historic journey to the Moon.

JULY 21, 1969 : Armstrong sets foot on the lunar surface, declaring: Thats one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.

JULY 24, 1969 : Apollo 11 splashes down safely in the Pacific Ocean and fulfills Kennedys astonishing aim of having a man walk on the lunar surface, and return safely to the Earth, before the end of the decade.

Open almost any book about how to achieve your aims and ambitions and you will quickly encounter stories of genetically gifted Olympians, hardheaded CEOs, and risk-taking entrepreneurs. This book presents a radically different perspective on success. Its based around a group of young and surprisingly ordinary people. Their inspirational story is little known and yet they played a central role in humanitys greatest achievement. Perhaps most important of all, once you understand how they did what they did, you can follow in their footsteps and achieve the extraordinary in your own life.

As a psychologist, I have spent much of my career examining why some people and organizations are especially successful. A few years ago, I became interested in the Moon landings, and was astonished to discover that although the technology used during the missions has been extremely well documented, very little has been written about the psychology that lies behind this remarkable achievement. As I started to dig deeper, I encountered several other big surprises.

On July 21, 1969, Apollo astronaut Neil Armstrong gently set foot on the powdery surface of the Moon. Live images of this historic event were beamed back to the Earth, where over 500 million people watched in wonder. Just eight years before, President John F. Kennedy had appeared in front of Congress and famously declared that before the decade was out, America would put a man on the Moon. Looking back, its hard to fully appreciate the enormity of the goal.

When the president made his historic announcement, America had only managed to send one astronaut on a fifteen-minute, up-and-down suborbital flight. Kennedys bold vision required several astronauts to journey over 236,000 miles across space, land on a distant and hostile world, and safely make their way back home. Even modern-day space travel pales in comparison, with the space shuttle and International Space Station only traveling around 230 miles above the surface of the Earth. Moreover, Kennedys goal had to be achieved within a few years, and at a time when the latest cutting-edge technology consisted of slide rules and mainframe computers with less processing power than a modern-day smartphone.

To many, Kennedys dream appeared to be truly impossible. Nevertheless, hundreds of thousands of people came together and attempted to transform that dream into reality. They invented new forms of technology, overcame setbacks and tragedies, and built spacecraft containing millions of bespoke parts. Against astonishing odds, the Moon landings were a spectacular success and provided the world with an unparalleled sense of optimism and hope.