6.19.13

Karen Nyberg is one of my heroes. After I wanted to be an anthropologist, and while I was being a teacher, I wanted to be an Astronaut. 

I completed the application process when they were looking for teachers to send on the Challenger. It was not my destiny to make even the first cut, so I decided to be a mother. Fifteen days after I had my first son, the Challenger made its last lift-off. It was a monumental tragedy.

Nyberg's quilt for her niece

That rested my interest in space for about 20 years. I am thinking I would again like to become an astronaut. Not enough to train and apply, just to think wistfully about it. Now I can enjoy it via Karen Nyberg. She went. She docked with the Soyuz TMA-09M. And she has fabric (only four fat quarters!), thread, and I hope, scissors. She was limited in what she could  bring with her but since astronauts on the space station discard their flight suits once a week, she may be able to cut some pieces of the fabrics before they are jettisoned to burn in the Earth's atmosphere. 

When asked what she would miss most aside from family and friends, she said she would miss drinking coffee from a cup instead of a bag! I raise my mug to you, Karen Nyberg.