Stranded Astronauts

 

Hayter for January 5, 2025

“A Lengthy Stay in Space”

            I hate to disappoint you, but I have decided not to share my usual prediction of events that will occur this year.– Beg pardon? – Yes, I’m referring to the year immediately before 2026. – Lloyd, you’ve got me off to a bad start.

And that, my friend, is partly why I‘m not sharing my predictions for this year. Few of you have any idea how much work goes into futuristically surmising. See? The words alone are hard to grasp.

Instead, we shall visit a situation that, thus far, has proved to be unsolvable. Yes, I’m referring to a space capsule, constructed by Boeing, that carried U.S. Astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore to the International Space Station back in June of 2024. Unless you’re totally adverse to news, you are aware that the two astronauts are unable to return to earth because of a half-dozen problems with the capsule.  They were supposed to return immediately after the completion of their eight-day mission.

 

Currently they are stranded in the International Space Station. They have been visited by other astronauts—lucky ones who returned home after a few weeks. For whatever reason, NASA has not allowed any newly arrived astronauts to loan Suni and Butch the capsule that they arrived in. I can only guess the logic behind that, because I have yet to find any info on it. It took a while for me to dig up the fact that Boeing manufactured the mal-functioning capsule. 

The U.S.A. was wisely upset about having to use Russia’s delivery system to bring our astronauts to the Space Station. Following a six-month stay on an intended eight-day project, it must be assumed that the powers that be are too proud have Russia or any other country help get our astronauts home. The current plan is to send them a workable capsule that will bring them home in March. If that happens, they will have spent almost a year of their weightless life aboard a cramped space station. 

Mark Rubio is an astronaut who stayed in the International Space Station for over a year. However, he went up there intending to set a record for the longest stay in space by an American. As mentioned, the families of Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore understood that their loved ones would return after a few days.

To listen to Suni and Butch, you would think that they’re just as happy as two ducks in a pond. On the news, you can  hear them talk about how much they have enjoyed learning and completing projects during their six month stay. One might think they were in Disneyland with their families. That’s because of the devotion they have for their mission and to their country. They both hope to make other trips to space, assuming they’re able to return from this one. That’s the reason they appear so upbeat during their interviews.

Speaking of which, Kay and I love one another a whole bunch. I’ve known her long enough to realize when I’m standing on her last nerve. It’s difficult to display one’s love when you’re really ticked off. That being said, if Kay and I were in a cramped weightless contraption for three weeks, we would have to pretend -- more than we’re capable -- that we adore one another. To maintain such a persona, she would have to slip her body into one of those tied-to-the-wall hammocks and stay there until I went to sleep or passed out.

In truth, I’m exaggerating a lot, here. I honestly don’t know how well Kay and I would get along while floating around for nine months. If we didn’t exercise every day, like Suni and Butch do, upon re-entry, any muscle we had left in our bodies it would be as thin as yarn. – I’m just guessing there.

I say all of that, to say this: It breaks my heart to think of Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore having to anticipate three more months in space while continually being supplied with different projects to keep their minds off their horrible situation.

When I think about what I just wrote, it sends me back to a time in 1985 when I was completing an in-depth application so I could travel into space aboard a Space Shuttle. I was a school teacher at a time when NASA was interviewing for the first teacher in space. I spent a couple of weeks working on that application. Unfortunately, I have trouble writing anything without adding some humor to it. That may have been why I never heard back from the NASA big wigs.

I imagine you know what this is leading up to. – “On January 28, 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds into its flight, killing all seven crew members aboard.”

Their names: Astronauts--  Ellison Onizuka, Gregor Jarvis, Judith Resnik, Michael Smith, Dick Scobee, and Ronald McNair. Plus school teacher Christa McAuliffe. 

            Being an ex-History and Government teacher, I am reminded of something said by Winston Churchill that, while not exactly applicable to the event on January 28, 1986, still touches my heart with its reading. – “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.”

            It is indeed the hope of many that Ms. Williams and Mr. Wilmore will soon make it home safely. Me? Were Kay and I the ones in space, during Lester Holt’s interview, the world would see the first man in space who cried like a baby. None one would see Kay, because she’d be hiding in her hammock.

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