Mike Mongo's latest update for The Astronaut Instruction Manual

Oct 2, 2014

Oye backers,
When a peer supports you, it is one of the best feelings in the world. Now, my friend physicist Robert Freeland is one of those professional peers for whom I have the highest professional admiration and with whom I "occasionally" see eye-to-eye.

[pictured: That's Rob in the middle, sitting at my left. NASA engineer Rob Adam's hosted this group, some of the core members of Icarus Interstellar, at his home in Huntsville, AL, for last year's Tennessee Valley Interstellar Workshop. Yes, my glasses are upside down.]

So today when I received the "You've got money!" notification with Rob's name listed, first I did a double-take. Then I gasped. Then I cheered.

...then, I lowered my head, shut my eyes and gave a quiet word of thanks—for friends and allies and supporters like Rob. Even though we argue, we agree: The value of space exploration for our future is bigger than any one (or two) of us.

Of all the backers of our crowdfunding campaign for The Astronaut Instruction Manual for Pre-Teens, Rob Freeland's comes along with a feeling of gratitude and appreciation that make me feel like we are taking on the world with our audacious goals and space science endeavors, and that by our doing it together we are making headway.

That's it. Keep up the good work, we are making headway:
One amazing backer at a time,
MM