My smartest strategy was simply to try not to mess anything up or make things worse. I was sure that once in a while, I’d be able to do something good and make an authoritative decision, but it didn’t need to happen in the first hour or even the first week. If I barged in, intent on making my mark, I probably would—just not in the way I wanted. Two decades into my career as an astronaut, I felt as close to being a plus one as I ever had. And I knew that my best bet of getting the crew to see me that way was to keep on doing what has always worked for me: aiming to be a zero.
