Hullo there,

This episode goes out to the friend and subscriber whose first word was “plane”! It’s all about women and flight.

We start with an absolute tearjerker (be warned, people at work or on a commute) about family and love and belonging and… Christa McAuliffe, who was to be the first woman in space:

“Dear Christa McAuliffe, you are my hero and my favorite woman on earth (and in space.) Love, Jennifer P.S. Please write back I have something very important to ask you. P.P.S. My home address is on the back of this card. P.P.P.S. Thank you.”

https://medium.com/the-archipelago/when-my-mom-was-an-astronaut-dc15d0172cd1

Here’s more about Christa McAuliffe, whose project as stated below sounds like something that would still be good. There could for sure be more humanising of technology, with or without space in the mix:

‘My perceptions as a non-astronaut would help complete and humanize the technology of the space age,’ she added. ‘Future historians would use my eyewitness accounts to help in their studies of the impact of the space age on the general population.’

https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0902.html

Finally, within the atmosphere, here’s a superb Economist obituary on Mary Ellis, who loved Spitfires and died at the age of 101:

Who needed love, with all its tortures and entanglements, when there was this? From the age of three she had wanted her wings to grow so she could reach the shimmering sky. Now she had them she was free, full of adrenalin and purpose.

https://www.economist.com/obituary/2018/08/04/mary-ellis-nee-wilkins-died-on-july-24th

Love,

Alex.