Page 44 of Atmosphere

“No, I don’t.”

“You have friends.”

“Are you making fun of me?”

“You have your family.”

“My parents like my brother’s wife more than me. They all go on skiing trips together and don’t invite me. My dad still hangs out with my ex-husband.”

“I bet it’s because you’re too…” Joan hiccuped and covered her mouth. “Busy.”

Lydia frowned and gave up. “Sure.”

Joan took the beer back out of Lydia’s hand and opened it.

“What are you doing, Goodwin?”

“The clock is going to strike midnight soon. I’m not going to kiss anybody—are you?”

Lydia glared at her. “Do you see any man knocking down my door?”

“Right, okay. So have a beer with me. We can ring in the new year together. You need to take a load off for a moment.”

Lydia inhaled sharply and then took the beer. “Just until midnight.”

“Great: for fourteen minutes, try to calm down, and then you can go right back to shoving coal up your butt and pulling out diamonds.”

Joan was drunk. Even she knew it now. But it was fun! She should do this more often. Why had she spent so much time with her nose in a book up until now? She liked going to parties!

Lydia stared at her. “That wasn’t funny.”

Spring 1981

Joan was standing on topof the launch control center at Kennedy Space Center with her aviator sunglasses on and her bomber jacket unzipped, revealing her blue polo shirt and khakis. It was Sunday, April 12, and while it would grow warmer during the day, it was not yet seven in the morning and there was still a chill in the air.

STS-1, the inaugural mission of the space shuttle program, was about to launch. Almost all of the astronauts had been assigned some role that day, like flying chase or search and rescue. Others had been made available for interviews with TV and radio news anchors. But Joan and the majority of the Group 9 ASCANs were there just to observe.

There were so many people at Cape Canaveral that morning that the surrounding beaches were packed. The launch was being broadcast on multiple channels.

It felt as if the whole world were watching.

Frances would be watching on TV, too. And Joan kept thinking of her as she looked over at theColumbiashuttle: a monumental bright white symbol of progress. The orbiter was positioned with its nose in the air, twin solid rocket boosters, one on either side of the externaltank. Any minute now, the main engines would ignite, and everyone would watch liftoff.

If Joan had thought Barbara would listen to her, she would have told her not to let Frances watch.

“Joan, I’m nervous,” Vanessa said.

Joan looked around, to see if any of the many astronauts, ASCANs, NASA officials, or admins on that rooftop with them were listening.

“It’s going to be fine,” Joan said.

Vanessa looked at her. “You’re not nervous?”

“I didn’t say that. I just said it is going to be fine.”

Vanessa lightened up slightly.

“Goodwin,” Griff said as he approached Joan, not seeing Vanessa on the other side of her. “Want to grab breakfast after this?”

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