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Major Josie Saunders
grew up reading all about Charles Lindbergh. It was Lindbergh's
flight across the Atlantic, along with Josie's own desire to make
her mother proud, that fueled her drive to join the Air Force and
later NASA. When, just a few days before her first mission into
space, Josie learns from a NASA P.R. man, Andrew, that her mother
has died, the frightening reality of what she's about to do hits
home. When she returns from the funeral and joins her fellow
astronauts, we learn that one of the mission's Capcoms, Greg, is
Josie's husband. In a private moment, he expresses some concern
about her emotional readiness for the mission. He rightly asses
that she might be angry and a little scared, but she denies it.
Then she meets Diana, a brave little girl with brain cancer, who
asks her to deliver a letter to God while she is in space. Josie
becomes suddenly awkward and ends her time with Diana, throwing
the letter away. Later, she tells Greg the truth: "I don't know
where my courage comes from. I don't even know if I ever had it."
She is afraid. One night, Diana's words echo in her dreams: "What
if something goes wrong?" When she wakes up screaming, Tess, a
NASA nurse, comforts her and we learn that while Josie loved her
mother deeply, they did not really see eye to eye. Her mother had
had a strong faith, but since the death of her father, Josie had
given up on God. She had always just wanted to show her mother
what she could do by herself--without God, without prayer--like
Lindbergh crossing the Atlantic. Tess assures her that Lindbergh
was never alone and begins to tell the story of Lucky Lindy as
Josie has never heard it before. But she only gets so far before
Josie falls asleep. On the day of the mission, Josie meets Sally
Ride, who does much to comfort her, and Tess does her part too.
She tells Josie that Lindbergh was visited by an angel during his
historic flight, and that it was God who got him through, not just
his own ability. Josie reminds Tess that she does not believe in
God and goes to the shuttle angry, if not quite so scared. The
mission goes smoothly until the spacewalk for which Josie had
trained so hard. Her tether breaks and then communication is lost;
and as she floats off into the dark, soundless solitude of space,
the real fear sets in. But she is visited by Monica--Lindbergh's
angel--who tells her to tether herself to God, and to trust Him as
her mother had always entrusted her to Him in prayer. She gives
her Diana's letter, which Josie finally "delivers" to God.
Communication is restored and as the shuttle comes to get her she
asks Greg, back at mission control, if Diana is there. She is, he
assures her; Andrew has made sure of that. Josie tells Diana, "I
can't be with you during the surgery. but I'll be praying for you.
Every day. Just like my mother prayed for me..."
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