In early July, there was a question I got a lot: “Are you nervous?” and I always answered, “No! I’m only excited.” I had a lot of confidence in my own abilities then, and even felt invincible. I was so sure of my own abilities that I couldn’t imagine anything going differently than I had planned. As it turned out, I should have been a lot more nervous then. I didn’t really know what to be scared of because it was an entirely new experience, which meant that I was fearless. Fearlessness can be powerful, but through all my scary experiences, including panic attacks, going home, and the subsequent experience of finding my way back to the mission, I found a tool that was even better: courage.
