It was their birthday gift to me. It was a wonderful time for the three of us to be together.

He's in the Naval Reserves, so we talked about everything from how it was for servicemen coming home years ago to how it is today.

I don't know why in the world they got Vietnam and Korean war memorials up, and they didn't have anything for World War II.

Yet another birthday, yet another Christmas. They've stolen this time from us.

For those of us who have flown before , that was by far the smoothest ascent .

It got away from us on the first spacewalk.