Michael Pagano

@JennyHPhoto Great shot!

Welcome back to Port Canaveral! The first reflown New Glenn first stage has successfully returned. It arrived aboard the recovery barge Jacklyn after a launch three days ago, when Blue Origin sent AST SpaceMobile communication satellites into space. Although the satellite was deployed, one of the rocket’s second-stage engines failed to produce enough thrust to reach its target orbit, leaving it too low to sustain operations. Reporting for @SuperclusterHQ

The world watched. Artemis II carried humans farther into space than we’ve ever been in over half a century and showed a new generation what exploration looks like. The journey back to the Moon is underway. Artemis III is up next.

@LeahCheshier I've been waiting for this my entire life. Thank you NASA and everyone involved, for giving us reason to believe. For giving us hope.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you. And… welcome. We’re only getting started.

Thank you for following Artemis II. We’re just getting started. Welcome to the Artemis generation.

Build the Base.

So when the journеy gets long Just know that you are loved Thеre is light up above And the joy is always enough… Bubbles Up🫧🫧🫧

Joy is a competitive super power. Alysa Liu retired from figure skating at 16. She was tired of not not having fun, tired of being consumed by her sport. She came back two years later with a new goal: to have as much fun on the ice as possible. And now she’s an Olympic gold medalist. Liu won her first national title when she was just 13. But by 16, after competing in the 2022 Olympics, she decided she’d had enough and stepped away. She said pressure and losing her identity trying to be an elite athlete made it all miserable. But then, she said she went on a ski trip that reminded her just how much fun she could have doing a sport. Something in her brain clicked. Maybe she could bring fun to figure skating. Maybe she could approach it in a way that could be full of joy and life and love. She unretired at 18 and won a world championship the next year. At 20, she was ready to face these Olympic games differently than in 2022. Liu went into the women’s figure skating final in third place. After her short program, she said: “Even if I mess up and fall, that’s totally okay, too. I’m fine with any outcome, as long as I’m out there.” One of the greatest competitive advantages is having fun. People love to romanticize the athlete, artist, or entrepreneur who has a chip on their shoulder, fueled by anger and resentment. But the truth is that if you’re not having fun, you are not going to last long at whatever it is you do, and you certainly won’t get the best out of yourself. There’s a foolish idea that you either have to be full of intensity or full of joy. But that’s nonsense. It’s no surprise one of the first things out of Alysa’s mouth after her free skate was: “That was so much fun!” Joy and intensity can coexist, and in the best performers, they almost always do. Alysa is unapologetically authentic and true to her values. She has said where she used to skate to win and be technically perfect, she now uses competition as a chance to show her art, to have fun, and to put herself out there. She’s a fierce athlete with an infectious sense of joy in her sport. And she broke USA's 24-year gold medal draught in women’s figure skating doing it. Excellence requires focus, determination, a little bit of crazy, at times obsession, and living a mundane lifestyle that many people would find boring. But excellence also requires that you find deep joy in your craft, that you learn how to have fun while working hard. What makes for excellence—and not just in sports, but in anything—is the combination of intensity and joy. It’s the latter that makes the former sustainable.

Oh I believe in song lines Obvious and not I'd ridden them like camels To some most peculiar spots. They run across the oceans Through mountains and saloons And tonight out to the dessert Where I sit atop this dune.

@AnnoyedPitBoss Happy to do so, and happy to see it's well-received overall. Congratulations and best of luck with everything you do.

@michaelpags Thanks, Michael! I’m glad you enjoyed it. If you have time to leave a review on Amazon, I’d appreciate it!

Hey my book is in a library!? Love it, Michael. Hope you enjoy the book!

All the way from Illinois to central NY via interlibrary loan. Looking forward to diving into this one @AnnoyedPitBoss

From under my lone palm I can look out on the day Where no bird flies by my window No ship is tied to my tree Love is a wave building to a crescendo Ride if you will, ride it with me

Everything we do as Liverpool football club this season will be for Diogo Jota. 🇵🇹❤️

Be good and you will be lonesome Be lonesome and you will be free Live a lie and you will live to regret it That's what living is to me That's what living is to me

@JDUB1090 New children's book idea: "Giancarlo Stanton and the Inevitable 7-2 Putout"

Slowest runner in MLB history… Yankees send him 🤦🏼‍♂️

@LukeMayo33 I'm not even a basketball guy but this isn't even a question.

Always Mike.

SpaceX and the Polaris Dawn crew have completed the first commercial spacewalk! “SpaceX, back at home we all have a lot of work to do, but from here, Earth sure looks like a perfect world.” — Mission Commander @rookisaacman during Dragon egress and seeing our planet from ~738 km

It would not surprise me to see this attitude from many. Which is fine. But some perspective: When the Falcon 9 first launch in 2010, the same could be said. We've been launching into space forever, blah blah. But here's the difference. 14 years later SpaceX is launching 100+ times a year, something no government has ever done. One can imagine, 14 years from now, dozens of people launching on Starship and taking a similar EVA in space, then on the Moon, and eventually Mars. That's why this is not overblown. This is, potentially, a critical step on humanity's expansion into the Solar System.

Invisible co-stars of the show: the ECLSS team, and all the valves and tubes and seals and ducers and filters required to make all this work. Exposing the cabin to vacuum is no joke.

@LukeMayo33 Welcome to the right side of history my friend.

Just rewatched LOST w/ the fam and holy smokes was the finale 70x better than the first time around I'll be up to 2am reading all the think pieces and watching YouTube deep dives that didn't exist in 2010.