Living in Hope

STAYING COOL If one remains inwardly calm and composed, then one will be able to survive the heat of external circumstances, and safely reach one’s destination. T he most delicate and dangerous part of space journeys is when the spacecraft returns to the earth’s atmosphere. Take the case of the Apollo-8 spacecraft, for instance. Before the capsule touched down on December 27, 1985, it had to negotiate a precipitous return to the earth’s atmosphere. Because of the earth’s gravity—seven times that of outer space—the speed of the spacecraft soared, reaching an astronomical 39,000 kilometres per hour. Because of its extraordinary speed, the heat of the spacecraft rose to terrifying proportions. Air friction started heating up the space vessel as soon as it entered the earth’s atmosphere. Soon it became literally red hot, reaching a temperature of 3,300 degrees Celsius. No animal can survive at such a temperature. How was it, then, that the three American astronauts