Bad Ass-tronaut!

I've known about astronaut and electrical engineer Christina Koch for several months, but it's only very recently that I learned more details about her life. She's currently the record holder for the longest space flight by a woman, and you can read about her at space.com:   https://www.space.com/record-breaking-astronaut-christina-koch-female-space-records.html

There's a fun interview with her, during which she does a neat microgravity trick. Much more importantly is her perspective on long term spaceflight. And this isn't her first time in extended isolation. In 2004 through 2007 she traveled the arctic and Antarctic regions, and also spent a winter season at the South Pole, where she experienced -111 degree temperature.  She's been a member of firefighting and ocean glacier search and rescue teams. She helped invent an x-ray spectrometer for NASA, among other things.

A cool video of 5 things about her can be found here:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5T37kIEXa8

Number 5 on that list is that she traveled and worked in Ghana – and so did my daughter Jamie! (I admit my wife Ellen and I were not happy about Jamie's original plans for that trip. Ebola was breaking out in nearby Nigeria and Cote d'Ivore at the time.)

Ms. Koch will be returning to Earth on 6 February, and I wish her a very safe flight home. I think I might have one of her descendants show up on Pearson Space Station or elsewhere in the solar system for my follow-up to my MG/SF novel The Other Side of Space. I already have Dr. Maggie Jemison in the first book – a fictional descendant of the real astronaut Dr. Mae C. Jemison. (Maggie saves Jason's life, by the way, and helps him to save... oops. You'll just have to read the book!)

Saving the World

My daughter Jamie graduated from The Ohio State University this month with her degree in Public Health. Yep, she’s a Buckeye! While she loves the school, in truth I honestly think it wouldn’t have made a large difference where she attended. Jamie would have taken what she needed and wanted from any institution.

Don’t get the wrong idea. She’s not demanding or pushy; far from it. Her faults might include not being sufficiently assertive sometimes. It’s a minor issue that many people have. Some don’t think it’s a fault. They’re probably right.

My point, however, is that while she’s not demanding or pushy, she is determined and persistent.  As Calvin Coolidge said, “Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.”*

She usually won’t go through an obstacle, but she will arrive at her destination, however long the road.  In almost every case that place is where she intended, but if not, she’ll still find good things about it. Next highway? Graduate school for Epidemiology.

One of her goals is to save the world. She never stated this to me, but it’s quite evident. It’s also naïve in the way that young twenty-somethings often are. Still, she has a very good head, and she continues to better understand the reality about a lot of the world’s problems.  During a recent trip to Ghana, she learned a lesson in helping people in a way that’s sustainable. Teaching fishing versus giving fish.

She and I disagree politically on many things. Yet at our hearts, we both know how important it is to help others, keep a clean sandbox, and build for the future.

Jamie will help save the world. We all can.


*"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent." -- Calvin Coolidge