Were You Afraid?

Were You Afraid?

That is one of the most frequent questions I am asked about my Space Shuttle launches. Would you be scared perched atop four and a half million pounds of explosives with someone about to light the fuse? I had been named as a crew member on a flight that was to launch in June, 1984.  Through many twists and turns in NASA’s schedule, I ended up training for three different flights until an April 12, 1985 launch date was locked in.  We had...

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Sunrise, Sunset

Sunrise, Sunset

The Space Shuttle went around the Earth every ninety minutes.  Half the orbit was in daylight, half in darkness.  That meant there was a sunrise, then forty-five minutes later a sunset.  We went around the world sixteen times a day.  For a fourteen-day mission (my longest), that’s 224 sunrises and 224 sunsets.  They were nothing like what people see standing in their backyards here on the ground. Coming out of the dark side of the orbit, a...

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