In this season of giving thanks, what will you be thankful for? Most are grateful for families and friends, as well as for the blessings that have been bestowed upon us.   We give thanks for the food we share on Thanksgiving Day and the promise of Christmas and the New Year to come. In addition to all these marvelous things, I am thankful for the opportunity that I had to fly in space–gaining a whole new perspective on this Earth we...

It was March, 1983. Hoot had been assigned to his first Space Shuttle flight which was to launch the next February. I was supporting the sixth flight, STS 6, which would be the upcoming flight in early April. And I had a nine-month-old son at home, so life was busy – but then, when hadn’t it been? Returning to the office from Mission Control late one day after an arduous practice simulation for STS 6, I found several phone messages from my...