As I reminisce about the special dinners I’ve shared with others, I’m a little surprised.  Of course, I’ve had dinner with family members, but also with my Space Shuttle crews. Once, when we were in quarantine waiting for our flight, our meal was thoughtfully prepared by Crew Quarters Dieticians. They sometimes took special requests for dessert like pie or cake. Their preparation ensured that we would remain healthy while we awaited our flight....

While watching all the preparations for the launch of the Artemis rocket, it occurred to me that many NASA flights over the years were named for Greek gods and goddesses. For instance, Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo were appropriate names for what those missions were like and what they planned to do. The god Mercury is often depicted with winged sandals so that he could fly fast. He was the patron of travelers. The Gemini flights carried two...

Have you ever watched children at play? Some move carefully, quietly, observing while others zoom about relishing the wind in their faces, hair flying. What happens to them when they become adults? I’ve been able to meet many fast movers, the ones who seem to have a need for speed. I married one of them. My husband, Robert “Hoot” Gibson grew up in a family of flyers. His father, Paul, was one of the pilots who first flew the Air Mail. His...

It was always a joy to take our whole family to the beach in Florida. We usually stayed at one particular house that we adored; but found out last January that it had already been rented out for the whole year. We happened to notice that a house just down the beach was available for this summer. After making sure it had the amenities we needed, we booked it for a week in July. We flew down to Florida and went quickly to the house. Guess what-...

I recently attended the annual Astronaut Hall of Fame at the Kennedy Space Center in Orlando. It was a time to see old friends, many of whom are Hall of Famers and several of whom were being inducted into this prestigious group. It is very special for me to wear the large, heavy gold medallion that marks those who are part of this group. All the Hall of Fame members entered the large ballroom according to the date of our first flight. My...

One of the things we had to master as new Astronauts was to be good back-seaters for the pilots in the planes part of the time. As they (and we) gained some confidence in our flying abilities they gave us more and more responsibilities. And of course, we had to learn how to handle emergencies. We had checklists with pages of what to do if something went wrong. Sometimes they did. The pilots were training for a number of jobs, one of which was...