Aboard the Space Shuttle

A story about perspective.

Oct. 5, 1984: Space Shuttle Challenger launch on Kathryn Sullivan’s STS-41G mission. Image photographed by astronaut Paul Weitz, who was piloting the Shuttle training aircraft. (NASA)

I’ve always had a thing for the space program, growing up, as I did, a few hours from Cape Kennedy. I built a lunar module kit when I was nine and had a map of the moon on my wall. My grandfather was even a guest at the Apollo 11 launch in 1969 and I treasure his VIP pass. In college I had an opportunity to spend an afternoon with Kathy Sullivan, one of the early women astronauts and a geologist, who came to talk to our planetary geology class about her mission. In October 1984 Kathy had the distinction of being the first woman to space walk. After class, we retreated to our professor’s home for an informal gathering. There she shared a funny little experience that has stuck with me, and that I will re-tell here, to the best of my recollection, the way I heard it.

Astronaut Kathryn Sullivan (Image credit: NASA)

When you prepare for the space walk in the shuttle, you get into the space suit which is thick, and your own complete environment. So whether you’re inside the ship or outside, in some ways you feel about the same.

The hatch outside was a little portal, about the size of a body in a spacesuit. When you exit the ship through the portal, you’re face down in the bottom of the giant cargo bay. The…