Originally Posted by
Cubdriver
It would seem that very bright people are just as likely to act on unchecked passions as any other group, and likely even more so because they are more accustomed to getting their way and achieving their goal without defeat. They are more frustrated when they fail because it can't happen to them. Perhaps NASA needs to realize that the very ones who are likely to enter their program are also the most passionate and emotionally involved with the result they obtain, and the least experienced in dealing with personal failure.
There is something to this, but years of service as a military officer should either ground you in reality or expose your fundamental weakness...she had to spend 15-20 years in a fishbowl before the navy would even let her apply to nasa.
At that level I don't think anyone gets there without having failed and learned how to deal with it somewhere along the line. Like skiing, if you don't fall down occassionally you're not trying hard enough...and those who ARE willing to risk the fall will beat you to the finish.
Maybe she's just plain nuts.