This website blog (and the book that started it) is all about innovative ways to launch a career in the aerospace or aviation fields Or how to be a so-called rocket scientist.

In this month of December, 2022, a major announcement was made. The #dearMoon mission, funded by Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa (YZ), announced 8 people from around the world who will join him and his family for a trip around the Moon in a SpaceX Starship.

If you haven’t seen who these people are that were selected, you should take a look on the dearMoon website: https://dearmoon.earth/

They are all remarkable people. Primarily artists and creative producers. Can they consider themselves “rocket scientists” once they travel on a Starship to orbit the Moon and return to Earth?

Yes they can! 

Perhaps we can take this as a lesson that one innovative way to be a rocket scientist is to get selected to be a passenger on a space mission.

(The only person I recognize who was selected is Tim Dodd, “the Everyday Astronaut.” I’m excited and happy for him to be selected. I previously wrote about him here as a great example about how to be a rocket scientist through an innovative career path. Now he will take his aerospace-focused career to an entirely new level!)

But the real lesson I want to emphasize is something different. The linchpin and trailblazer behind this mission is MZ. Because he became a billionaire (as an artist and businessman), he now has the resources to be an astronaut. Twice! (He has already flown to the International Space Station as a private astronaut through Space Adventures.)

The rocket he will use for the dearMoon mission is from SpaceX, which of course was founded by billionaire Elon Musk. Musk was able to start SpaceX because of the wealth and experience he gained by co-founding Paypal, and then Tesla.

We need to also mention other billionaires who have founded private space companies: Virgin Galactic by Richard Branson, and Blue Origin by Jeff Bezos.

None of these people started their careers in aerospace. And yet today our world benefits from their space ventures, hopefully with many more benefits in the years ahead. (But Elon Musk is clearly leaving the rest of them in his exhaust plumes.)

Here is the lesson: if you can become extremely wealthy and successful in ANY endeavor, you will have the ability to redirect (or vector) your wealth and resources into “rocket science.”

Let’s keep it real. Even though my purpose and burning desire with my book and this website is to encourage people to find an innovative way to achieve their dreams for a career in aerospace or aviation, maybe the path is not as direct or obvious as either of us imagine.

If you have tremendous skills and opportunities in another career, why not take advantage of that? If you can achieve remarkable and unique success and impact in a discipline other than rocket science, why should you reject it? 

As long as you can do it ethically, legally, and safely; this could be your best path forward in life.

Life is a long journey. You should expect that you will have several careers in your lifetime. Maybe you reserve “rocket science” for later in life when you can “pick yourself” to create your own company in this domain.

The lesson that the dearMoon mission teaches us is that one innovative way to become a “rocket scientist” is to become extremely wealthy and successful in another field first.

Take note: you can’t focus on building wealth above all else! Don’t be SBF who founded FTX and is now looking at the rest of his life behind bars (hopefully).

Aim for genuine success. Massive success. It is different for every person. If you have a trajectory that can make you a millionaire – or perhaps a billionaire – this could actually (eventually) be your best path into aerospace or aviation. 

Thanks for reading. If you are still passionate about charting your course into a career in aerospace or aviation, I created 10 tips for you.

Actually, they can be applied to pursuing a successful career in any discipline. So if you can use any of them to become wealthy and successful in another discipline, more power to you!

P.S. If you want to know my own plan to become wealthy and successful, you can check out my venture to boost your career with a book here. Maybe it will benefit you too. Even though I’m in my 50’s, I’m still enjoying the journey and I’m keeping my engines at full throttle.