The Right Kind of Crazy

Book excerpt: Adam Steltzner is no ordinary engineer. His path to leadership was about as unlikely as they come. A child of beatnik parents, he barely made it through school. He blew off college in favour of work at a health food store and playing bass in a band, but after discovering an astonishing gift for maths and physics, he ended up helping a group of scientists land the heaviest rover in the history of space exploration on Mars. This is the story of the teamwork, drama and extraordinary feats of innovation at the Jet Propulsion Lab that culminated in that landing in 2012.