"Robert Tine - The Astronaut's Wife" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tine Robert)

225 ten feet at 220. Eight at 215 five feet at 210 knots almost down now two feet at 200.
... ... ... ...


One foot. Zero. Ground Control, this is Victory, we are down.тАЭ
From somewhere in the building Jillian could hear the sounds of cheers and applause. The
pilot, however, was not celebratingтАФnot yet. He still had a very large vehicle traveling at a very
great rate of speed to slow down and bring to a stop.
тАЬOne hundred and fifty knots,тАЭ he intoned.
тАЬOne hundred knots. Eighty knots. Sixty-five knots, 30, 15, 10 knots .. We are stopped. Ground
.


Control, this is Victory. The voice seemed to lighten slightly. тАЬThis is Victory, come and get us.тАЭ
Almost as the words were broadcast a cavalcade of emergency vehicles raced out onto the
tarmac strip of the runway, the red and blue lights on their roofs bright and sharp, glancing off
the gray of the dawn. There were two ambulances, one each for the injured men, as well as a
phalanx of other trucks that Jillian could not identify.
A feed from a news reporter came out of the monitor, as a bulletin was made to network
headquarters in New York City.

actions on the part of NASA to take care of its own. The Victory was just a
.тАЬ...unprecedented


few hundred thousand miles into a three-million-mile mission when the accident occurred and
the decision was made almost instantly to cut the mission by eighty percent to bring the injured
men home. You have just seen a rare dawn landing of a space shuttle. NASA and the two injured
astronauts were lucky that there was a weather window open so soon. ItтАЩs something of a
miracle . . .тАЬ


JillianтАЩs only idea of a miracle had nothing to do with weather windows. The miracle was that
her husband had been hurt far out in space and now he was on earth again. Now she wanted to
see him, to see for herself just how miraculous this had all been.
The reporter continued. тАЬThe two astronauts, Armacost and Streck will be medivaced to a
hospital facility here on the base...тАЭ

The hospital was as calm and as white as the conference room and the same fluorescent hum
seemed to have followed Jillian here like a fly she could not get rid of.
Jillian stood at one end of the corridor with the doctor taking care of her husband. At the far
end of the corridor stood Natalie Streck with the doctor who was overseeing treatment of Alex.
Between the two, in the middle of the corridor, still feeling like a fish out of water, stood
Sherman Reese.
Jillian hung on the doctorтАЩs every word. He was young and seemed competentтАФplus he was
reporting nothing but good news. Her spirits rose with every word.
тАЬHeтАЩs breathing on his own,тАЭ the doctor said. тАЬHis vital functions are good and strong. As far
as we can tell, there has been no brain damage. It should only be a matter of time before your
husband regains consciousness.тАЭ
Jillian nodded, and then looked down the corridor to Natalie. Her doctor had his hand on her