“One of my favorite things about rugby as a sport is really just how much of a team sport rugby is. I really have found that even as compared to some of the other team sports that I’ve played, there’s really a reliance on every individual contributor’s skill sets and strengths.
“In order to be successful as a rugby team, it really requires that everybody comes to the table and relies on each other. Success is not possible without having people really of all different sizes and strengths and skill sets really working together.
“And I think that type of teamwork is really applicable to human spaceflight. Human spaceflight is a team sport as well. And we have so many people with different experiences and expertise that they bring to the table that really allows us to do this hard thing, accomplish this goal of human spaceflight as a concept, but even on an individual everyday basis. Operating the International Space Station requires an entire team of people all coming together with one goal in pursuit of that one mission.”
— Jessica Watkins, Astronaut, NASA’s Johnson Space Center
Image Credit: NASA
Interviewer: Excerpt from NASA’s Curious Universe podcast