Editor’s Log:
. . .We Have a Problem

By Kat Tanaka

I’ve been thinking a lot about Apollo 13 this week. Not just because the 35th anniversary is April 11. I’m spending my first week alone on Ulysses—the captain will be thousands of miles away from Sunday to Friday, off to teach a seminar at the last minute.

After I take him ashore in the dinghy, I’ll be taking a taxi to the marine supply store to buy a replacement part for something that broke last night. There won't be a control center guiding my actions. By then the captain will be on the plane, and it’ll be up to me to figure out how this part fits. Not much like the Apollo 13 crew’s experience, is it? It seems a bit silly comparing one of the most dramatic events in the history of human space exploration with a non-lifethreatening bit of shipboard fix-it.

But it leads me to thinking about teamwork, and training, and all the ways in which human endeavors differ mainly in orders of magnitude. Even the things that seem like solo ventures can be seen as the culmination of many years of effort by many people. Even Robinson Crusoe, or Tom Hanks’ character in “Castaway”, relied on knowledge they had acquired from other sources or things that came from the outside world.

That’s how the publication of the Odyssey works, too. Each month many people work on this “behind the scenes” in addition to the credited bylines for articles and photos. For instance, the Space Calendar relies on Norm Cook and Bob Gounley.

Join in. There’s more to do here than writing articles, although that’s always in demand. If you’ve just been waiting to be asked, here’s your invitation. Send me e-mail or a postcard and let me know if you’d like to help. Thanks.

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