Astronaut in Space - Mom Dies

[rdowns]

This is so sad. Poor guy is stuck up in space.

Daniel M. Tani's 90-year-old mother died in an auto accident this week, but he has no way of getting home until late January. He must grieve from more than 200 miles away — in orbit, aboard the international space station.


It's a heartbreaking situation no other American astronaut has experienced. And it's made all the more tragic by Tani's devotion to his mother, Rose, who raised him and his siblings alone in suburban Chicago after their father died when he was 4.

 

[techlover828]

that really sucks, you'd feel so helpless.

 

[rdowns]

All astronauts are asked about how to handle tragic news when they're in space and he opted to be told.

Just heard on the news that NASA will tape the funeral and beam it up for him to watch.

 

[Kamera RAWr]

All astronauts are asked about how to handle tragic news when they're in space and he opted to be told.

Just heard on the news that NASA will tape the funeral and beam it up for him to watch.

Hopefully that'll count for something

 

[Markleshark]

Shame. My thoughts go out him and his family.

 

[iBlue]

That is sad.
It happens on earth as well, but with less glamor than saying "I was stuck in space". If my mother died (a thought I cannot handle) I wouldn't be able to attend the funeral either. I don't have the money to fly from england to los angeles. Honestly, I think that is a more frustrating situation, being able to but not being "able" to. (if that makes sense) I wonder how many times things like this happen, I bet lots. Not everyone can be with their families when they might most like to be. Then there's the soldiers who are likely stuck where they are... life is just crappy like that.

Jeeeesus, sorry for the added dark cloud. the holidays really bring out the best in me.

 

[topgunn]

It happens on earth as well, but with less glamor than saying "I was stuck in space".

I think you're right. I wonder how many in the military have had a mother, father, wife, son, daughter, brother or sister die while deployed overseas. It comes with the territory. The same is true of off-shore oil workers and a dozen other professions I am sure.