It was a cool night, in contrast to the day before. My dad had left the door slightly open in his office, and the moist air and cool breeze combined in the air. I slipped into the cushioned armchair that I had always loved as my dad walked in with a very old book. The front, written in all caps and bold, stated “THE RIGHT STUFF.” That one book would have a huge impact on the next 4 years of my life. The Right Stuff is a book by Tom Wolfe that chronicles the early days of manned spaceflight. The first astronauts were test pilots and were the typical macho figures seen portrayed even today. As I read the book, I was equal parts enchanted and inspired. One part of me wanted to be those men, who knew exactly the dangers they were signing up for and did it anyway. The other part wanted to get up and make it happen. That moment and those feelings pushed me into two different worlds, one of military history, and understanding the story behind the right stuff. The other? Aerospace engineering. And on the one hand, I think this book was an amazing push to get into the topic, it somewhat romanticized the topics, and so when I first started doing the actual work with aerospace, it is much different than I expected. Studying aerospace so far has involved a lot of busywork, converting between units, using pitot tubes, and understanding the absolute basics. Luckily, I have still very much enjoyed this work. I can see how each piece that I am learning is building on the last and how that will slowly progress into a much greater overall knowledge. Additionally, in the end no one person can make a rocket, and that is something that is easy to lose while reading a book like The Right Stuff. This one moment, however, had a profound impact on my essential question. Instead of the “what” questions seen in my essential question, this book is the answer to all of those “why” questions. Why do I want to study planes, why do I want to study rockets, why do I want to learn this history? The answer to all of these questions is simply, The Right Stuff.