Good morning!
Did you watch the Artemis II launch feed last week? For the first time in more than 50 years, humans are heading back to the moon!
Every once in a while you get to witness something incredible, but for one of our brothers in this group… launch day meant a little bit more.
*No, the thumbnail for this week is not an AI Generated image, that’s a real photograph! 🙀
⚡️ F5 Fast Files - Short Summary
Big breakthroughs are built on thousands of small steps
The world usually just sees the launch, not the preparation
Launch Day is built today, keep taking the next small step.
“We always knew it would work. It was just a matter of doing it.”
🖖 Shoutout to Cap’n Kirk for taking the win in the F5 bracket challenge for march madness!
🤯 Mind Blown!
Did you know
Artemis II will travel 250,000 miles from Earth — farther than any humans have ever gone before
The Space Launch System generates 8.8 million pounds of thrust
When Orion returns to Earth it will be traveling 25,000 mph
Atmospheric drag will create temperatures over 5,000 degrees
That is absolutely wild!
And one of our own helped build it. Sterling Peterson is an engineer who has spent the last several years working on the Orion spacecraft for NASA’s Artemis program.
He messaged me last week to tell me about launch day and invited me to watch.
So I tuned in. And honestly? I was awestruck.
Watching that rocket lift off gave me chills. It was epic.
“I’m really proud to be part of this mission because it is the beginning of the next generation of human space presence.”
Sterling — we’re proud of you too.
🚀 More Space
For leisure my wife and I have been reading a sci-fi book together called Project Hail Mary. (Not exactly the same as building a rocket in real life, but almost)
I won’t spoil it in case you’re going to read it or watch the new movie starring Ryan Gosling, but there’s a line in that book that stuck with me.
After a dramatic moment where the main character saves the ship, he says:
“Science isn’t a big ‘Eureka!’ moment. It’s a bunch of tiny steps…We knew this would work. It was just a matter of doing it.”
That line made me stop and think.
When we see something like a rocket launch, it feels like one massive moment.
Years of work, then suddenly
Liftoff!
But real life doesn’t usually work that way.
Sterling didn’t wake up one morning and decide to build a rocket either, it took:
Years of education
Years of engineering
Thousands of design decisions
Countless small improvements
And wayyy more people than just him!
Launch day was simply the culmination of thousands of quiet steps.
Don’t let the public spotlight fool you.
Most of us only saw launch day.
But unlike the rocket itself, this project didn’t go from 0 to 25,000 mph all at once.
It happened exactly like the quote from the book:
“It’s a bunch of tiny steps… we knew it would work. It was just a matter of doing it.”
🎉 Checkpoints
Sometimes we imagine success as a dramatic moment.
The promotion, breakthrough, viral post, or the rocket launch.
But most of life happens in the quiet steps before the launch.
The early mornings.
The late nights.
The steady, consistent effort nobody sees.
Every once in a while you get a moment where the engines ignite and something you’ve been building finally takes off.
Take time to celebrate those wins!
It’s a result of who you’ve become, a culmination of all the small steps you’ve taken.
🫵 Don’t Forget!
Watching the launch, I had two immediate thoughts.
First: “How awesome is it that I get to be part of a brotherhood with literal rocket scientists.”
Second: “Wait… is rocket scientist the standard level of intelligence around here? Because I might be in over my head.”
The truth is, it doesn’t matter what your profession is. If you’re a man striving for excellence in your Faith, Family, Fitness, Finance, and Fun…
You belong here.
Maybe you haven’t seen your launch day yet, that moment where the world watches you takeoff. That’s ok, most of us are taking the stairs too, climbing to greatness one step at a time.
Justin & Jared
F5 Brotherhood
P.S - The LinkTree is still your hub for everything F5 Brotherhood