Discovery Awakens to a Faith of the Heart

Written by: S.K. Sloan

The crew of the Discovery was awaken today with “Where My Heart Will Take Me” – “Faith Of The Heart”, the opening theme song to “Star Trek: Enterprise”. The Discovery Space Shuttle Program Deputy Manager, Wayne Hale, broadcast it up to them as a thumbs-up for the crew as they begin to make Discovery fit for re-entry in just a few days.

The crew are about to make an endeavor that has never been tried before, a space walk (or space-boom walk) to the underbelly of the Shuttle to repair damage inflicted to it during its liftoff. This kind of manuver can be filled with all kinds of possibilities for causing even greater damage, but it is one that most be done. The Discovery crew, along with the ISS astronauts, continue to show the same kind of courage and initiative in the real world of space exploration that every crew member in Star Trek’s famous universe displayed in the world of fictional space exploration, so the song was quite fitting for the event about to be undertaken.

The WAKE-UP Call Transcript:

STS-114 Wake-up Calls

Flight Day 9 Transcript

CAPCOM Shannon Lucid: Good morning, Discovery! The wake-up music this morning was for the entire crew. And it was compliments of the deputy shuttle program manager. You can sort of think of the wake-up music this morning as the inspirational memo that he would have written you to tell you how much we believe in you, that is if you were a musician rather than an engineer.

Commander Eileen Collins: Good morning, Houston, or good evening as the case may be. Thank you. We send our thanks for the music. We are looking forward to a great and successful today today.

Lucid: And Discovery, we’re with you all the way today. It is going to be a great day.

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UPDATE:

The repairs to the Space Shuttle have been successful and with these words from Astronaut Robinson as he gently pulled the last piece of damaged material from the belly of Discovery, “It looks like this patient is cured,” the return has been declared a safe go.

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