Annabell Cabana, mother of Space Shuttle Commander Robert Cabana, shares memories of her son’s youth growing up in Minneapolis and talks of her feelings of him in space.
Annabell Cabana, mother of Space Shuttle Commander Robert Cabana, shares memories of her son’s youth growing up in Minneapolis and talks of her feelings of him in space.
SPEAKER 1: When he was a child of five, he always told me when he grew up, he was going to be a pilot and I just sort of, oh, sure you are, Bob.
[CHUCKLES]
But he really had a great love for jets. He used to spend his time-- his idea of fun was to ride out to the airport. At the time, that it was the military jets would come in and he would watch them come in. And he was an avid reader of all aviation books. And he just totally was-- he really loved airplanes.
SPEAKER 2: Airplanes, but not necessarily spacecraft early on, anyway.
SPEAKER 1: No, because that was just really before his time. I mean, he's 45. And little boys today would be introduced to space, he was introduced to jets. That sort of thing.
SPEAKER 2: Do you get worried when he's out in space?
SPEAKER 1: Yeah, I do. In fact, when we go down to launches-- we were down to this one. I live on Aspen. By the time we arrive and after the launch, I just sort of fall apart, relax, and sleep. And it's amazing my headaches go away.
[CHUCKLES]
But it's very emotional to hear him communicate with Houston and to watch that shuttle go up. It's just about, more than anyone, I think it's emotional to any person. And when you know your son is in there, it really grips you. So it's very difficult.
SPEAKER 2: I noticed today, he was quoted as saying that he's still very hopeful that NASA will resume flights to the moon and maybe even to Mars. Didn't suggest that he would necessarily be in the program when that happened, but reading between the lines, it sounded like he sure wanted to make that trip. Would you like to see him make a trip like that, maybe to Mars?
SPEAKER 1: Not necessarily.
[CHUCKLES]
SPEAKER 2: Why not?
SPEAKER 1: Well, it's an awfully long time to have no communication with him. We usually have a terrific conversation once a week. This is a long time, but we haven't cable and a friend of mine brought over his. Oh what do they call them, the scanners, whatever they are. And so I've been I have the audio of everything that's going on. So I listen to them all day long, and it's great just to know that everything's going OK and that there are no problems up there. But no, I would not be too happy to see him go to Mars, but maybe some other mother would.
[CHUCKLES]
SPEAKER 2: Do you think that Robert and some of the other space shuttle astronauts have gotten the short end of the stick here in terms of lack of media attention?
SPEAKER 1: I definitely do, very much so. I mean, it's almost as if I have to apologize for the fact that he's an astronaut. Some people are very interested. People that realize the spin offs that have come, that NASA has given us, but as far as they're very few people know that Bob Cabana is an astronaut and that he is the one, Minnesota born astronaut, went through the Minnesota, the Minneapolis Public system school system and was a very bright boy, needless to say. But they really are very short on publicity for them. They seem to have no interest in the space program, period.
SPEAKER 2: I know you were certainly around when they put the first man on the moon.
SPEAKER 1: Yes.
SPEAKER 2: 25 years ago, today. Why do you suppose we became so blasé about this? I mean--
SPEAKER 1: I really have no idea. I couldn't answer that. They probably think it's a waste of time and money, and I don't think it is. I really think that there is a lot to be gained. I think science is a very important part of our way of life in this country. And I just think that you have to keep going forward.
SPEAKER 2: Columbia is supposed to be back on Friday.
SPEAKER 1: 5:00 PM 5:00 something. 5:45, I think they touched down at Florida.
SPEAKER 2: Right. You get a call right away then from Robert?
SPEAKER 1: Uh-huh. As soon as he has time, he always calls us. Probably if I expect he'll be very, very tired after this mission. It's been, I'm sure, very grueling for the time that he's up there. But I expect he'll call me as soon as he gets back on the ground and able to get to a phone.
SPEAKER 2: And then you can relax again.
SPEAKER 1: Yeah. Well, I feel pretty confident that they'll come down safely. Everything seems to be going very good up there. The launch is the hardest. Once they're up there, I know things can happen, but I have confidence. I'm confident that they'll come down OK
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