"A memoir"--Dust jacket

Prologue: Creating a mission to space -- All I had were questions -- In fragments -- Being relentless -- The search for meaning -- Every endeavor is a human endeavor -- Past is prologue -- The kinds of things a person can want -- Expanding courage -- Change begins with a question -- On not being a hero -- Every day, a brick -- At the end of the marathon, a sprint

A memoir from a world-renowned planetary scientist explores her remarkable life story, the struggles she faced as a woman in the field, and her work as the leader of NASA's Psyche mission to explore the largest known metal-rich asteroid

Lindy Elkins-Tanton is the Principal Investigator of NASA's $800 million Psyche mission, and the second woman ever to be awarded a major NASA space exploration contract. Here she tells how, amid a childhood of terrible trauma, she fell in love with science as a means of healing and consolation. In telling her story-- and that of a massive asteroid called (16) Psyche, which has the potential to unlock the story of how planets form, and how our planet formed-- she takes us from the wilds of the Siberian tundra, to the furthest reaches of outer space, and to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where her team brought the Psyche mission to life. -- adapted from jacket