I’ve always been fascinated by space, especially Mars. So, of course, when I got a call from Tom Reynolds, Dir. Kennedy’s operations. It thrilled me. Of course, as part of the norm, it came in the early hours of the morning.

“No sleep, to Brooklyn,” was my ring tone, the boys of the beast. “Hello.” I said, fumbling at my nightstand for the light, “yes, this is she.”

“Ms. Elkin, this is director Tom Reynolds, from Kennedy Space Center operations NASA. I trust I’m not disturbing you,” he said, his voice serious? That’s what I found amusing, considering it was 330 in the morning.

“No, I always wake up, before anything else with a pulse does,” I said.

“It’s regarding the new mission to Mars, and the rover ‘perseverance’ we have reason to believe, the Russians have a rover of their own on the planet’s surface. Unfortunately, they do not believe in the motto, live and let live, meaning their unit it has weapons. It will destroy anything it encounters while surveying. This, however, would include the ‘perseverance’,” the director said.

“With all due respect director, I see where you’re going with this, and let me stop you. We’re not astronauts, as a matter of fact, my daughter hates flying, and I’m no fan either, however, my son loves it, but he gets that from my dad. I forgot where I was going, doesn’t matter, answer’s no,” I said.

“I understand your concern, Ms. Elkin, however, we can guarantee your safety,” the director said.

“That’s the biggest load of crap, I have ever heard you can’t guarantee anything in life. It’s always a roll of the dice, but I’m sure the odds don’t go up when you strap yourself to a bomb,” I said!

As launch crews strapped the kids and me into our formfitting capsule seats of the ‘Discovery 2’ I looked outside the window and could see the giant streams of water covering the aft of the spacecraft and booster rockets. I assumed it was to keep them from overheating, in the sweltering Florida sun. The massive water pumps shot out 500,000 gallons per minute, helping to keep the engines cool while awaiting ignition.

I grabbed Eric and Emma’s hand, assuring them it would be okay. Of course, the thought always did sneak up on me, “what if something happened?” It could be any number of things. Because we’re basically strapped to a stick of dynamite and were going to allow someone to light the fuse. Although Eric seemed to enjoy it, Emma continued to sob. This didn’t surprise me though, I kind of expected it, as I was trying to see out the porthole windows.