Success? Dream Being an Astronaut!
By Odell Sneeden Hathaway, III.
Success? Dream Being an Astronaut!Copywrite ©, 2008 By Odell Sneeden Hathaway, III Too start at the beginning I suppose that the one desire or dream that has meant the most in my life is that of that little boy who wanted to fly in space and be an astronaut. I know that we are talking about a dream on a par with being a cow boy or ballerina. But this dream has been a major force in my life and is the spring board off of witch all other dreams are launched. I held that dream from my earliest memories all the way up until I was sixteen years old and even though I gave up on making it happen it is still a very special part of my life. There are very few manned US Launches that I have not watched and I try to follow the space program. (Don’t get me started about the CEV.) Like a jock who still roots for his foot ball team even though he will never set foot on a grid iron. I am not certain why I am so drawn to the space program. My parents were both very interested. When I was small my father started taking flying lessons and I used to go to the air port and watch him fly while taking care of Susan my kid sister. After my Father set aside his dreams of flying (for financial reasons) we would still spend most Saturdays at the air port eating lunch and watching the planes take off. We called it Hamburger Plane and it is one of the parts of my childhood that I do treasure. Today the 94th Aero squadron sits were we used to sit. My 1st clear memory was of watching the TV as an Agena
space ship was launched. Before I was
declared brain damaged I would go to the other classes in my school and tell
them about the space program. A second grader lecturing to the 6th
graders. Even my last memories of
Childhood are centered around the launch of Apollo 8. I was sick as a dog as it lifted off at Only a few weeks were left before my world would be destroyed and I would told me “yes, your brain damaged”. My love of space even saved me from my world being destroyed. My desire to fly and fly in space led me to science fiction. As a young boy I remember with such joy my parents taking me to see 2001 a Space Odyssey. I was 6 years old but my love for space was already firmly set. Unfortunately I have no Idea when I was 1st introduce to Star Trek. Star Trek saved my life, in a very literal sense. After I was told that I was brain damaged and would have to retake the 2nd grade my life became a living hell. Every one at school was constantly making fun of me not just the other kids but the teachers as well. Also I had a great aunt who was brain damaged so I knew what it meant and I did not want to be that or to be me. I know that I was well on my way to becoming the 1st Kip Kinkle. I wanted to strike out at the world to kill everyone at my school and most importantly my self. Star Trek changed all of that for me. I thought Mr. Spock was just like me he lived in a world were he was different from everyone and rejected by them. (I will tell you more about my desire to be a Vulcan like Spock later.) As I aged I never lost the desire to fly in space and my rejection of my humanity made that desire even grater. I wanted off this miserable rock. I wanted to go someplace any place were life was better. My Favorite movie later in life would be come Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind. I wanted to be Roy Neary and be given the chance to get off this rock. In fact I think if a space ship landed in my back yard I would be more then willing to go. In the movie Top Gun there is a song by “Cheap Trick” called “Mighty Wings” it starts with the words. “It’s just a ball of dust, underneath my feet. It rolls around the sun, doesn’t mean that much to me.” That pretty well sums it up for me. As I moved from Grammar school to high school, I still had my dream and was working on a plan to make it happen. I would go to the Air Force Academy. I even joined the Civil Air Patrol to make it easier for this to happen. It was not until I got in to High School that fate stepped in and through up a road block that made me give up this dream. When I took Drivers Ed they found that my eye site was terrible and I had to get Glasses. Well you can’t be a an astronaut if you have to wear Glasses (or so I believed) I was very up set a few years later when the 1st launch of the Space shuttle took place and Video came down of Young and Crippen both wearing glasses in space. I of course do not think looking back that I ever had much of a chance at this dream. My Dyslexia would see to that. Also I had no discipline. It was not something important to teach someone who was never going to succeed. No one expected greatness from me and it was hard enough dealing with life day to day with out expecting it from my self. Today the I have not completely given up on my dream of space. I still hope someday to get a ride on Spaceship Two or something. I even cherish a little fantasy of having my body put on a probe like New Horizons and blasted out of the solar system. I would truly love to be the 1st person for whom dust to dust did not apply. What I have written is important but it does not really address the base question of what is it about being an Astronaut that made it such an important part of my life. What made a Fat, out of shape, dyslexic, out cast with no idea of what discipline was want to reach for the Gold ring of Gold rings. I think I can boil it down to a few things. * First of all I wanted to be free! Free in a way that only someone brought up in a world were the moon was something we were going to get could be free. Today the magic is gone for those growing up but then there was no such thing as impossible. * I wanted to prove to the whole world that I was not brain damaged. I was a person worthy of respect and even admiration. * I wanted to prove it to my self (most of all) Success? Dream Being a Vulcan! |
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Even on the NET I can't spell Tree, updated
06/29/08.