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Back Little Universes Save as PDF
Chapters (63)
  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright Notice
  3. Dedication
  4. Epigraph
  5. Part 1
  6. Mae
  7. Hannah
  8. 1
  9. 2
  10. 3
  11. 4
  12. 5
  13. 6
  14. 7
  15. 8
  16. 9
  17. 10
  18. 11
  19. 12
  20. 13
  21. 14
  22. 15
  23. 16
  24. 17
  25. 18
  26. 19
  27. 20
  28. 21
  29. 22
  30. 23
  31. 24
  32. Part 2
  33. 25
  34. 26
  35. 27
  36. 28
  37. 29
  38. 30
  39. 31
  40. 32
  41. 33
  42. 34
  43. 35
  44. 36
  45. 37
  46. 38
  47. Part 3
  48. 39
  49. 40
  50. 41
  51. 42
  52. 43
  53. 44
  54. 45
  55. 46
  56. 47
  57. 48
  58. Epilogue
  59. Mental Health Resources
  60. Acknowledgments
  61. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
  62. About the Author
  63. Newsletter Sign-up

4

Mae

ISS Location: Low-Earth Orbit

Earth Date: 30 August

Earth Time (PST): 11:30

Anything can happen in space.

It’s an environment in which human life is impossible. But if you’re an astronaut, you’re human. WHICH MEANS YOU’RE DOING THE IMPOSSIBLE. You’re floating around in a tin can with a finite amount of oxygen, in a very vulnerable body, hoping that the math is right because it’s the only thing that’s going to keep you alive.

Actually, that’s not entirely accurate. There are things you can control, like how well trained you are, the ability to stay calm under pressure—literal and figurative—and your intelligence. And if you’ve got a good crew, like the kind that would go into Mordor with you, and they are well trained and intelligent, then you exponentially increase your chances of survival.

The fact that we can go to space and survive there is proof positive that we can do impossible things. That’s what my dad is always saying—We can do impossible things.

When I was six, I alerted my father to the fact that maybe there are certain conditions in society that make it impossible for female members of our species to do impossible things. Such as, women make up less than eleven percent of humans sent into space. I informed my father that the probability of me wearing a NASA space suit wasn’t great. His answer was to sit me down to watch an interview with astronaut Peggy Whitson, who would go on to become the commander of the International Space Station and would break records for time spent in space: 665 DAYS, the most of any American woman. “We can do impossible things,” he said. Then we went to the Griffith Observatory to look at stars.

And this year? Fifty percent of NASA’s astronaut candidates are women. FIFTY PERCENT!

Someday I’m going to be up there. I’m going to be on the International Space Station and I’m going to do space walks and listen to “Starman” while watching my sixteenth sunrise of the day and I’m going to call my dad from space and it is going to be SPECTACULAR.

That phone call is going to happen because my father is alive. We are going to find him and he’ll come up with a great metaphor about this wave. Just another opportunity to visit the event horizon, he’ll say. And Mom will announce she’s going to make soup and we’ll help her and it will be so good, the best soup anyone has ever eaten, and maybe we’ll call it Miracle Soup, even though only half our family believes in miracles. I’m not in that demographic, but maybe I could be, if they came home.