A nice article about a Discovery astronaut and his family

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NYTIMES.COM

Home From Orbit, a Son Calls His Mother

By DAVID KOEPPEL

Published: August 10, 2005

If the safe return of the space shuttle Discovery was a cause for celebration at NASA headquarters yesterday, it was a cause for relief at a small, two-family house in Ozone Park, Queens.

Charles J. Camarda, one of the seven astronauts aboard, grew up in that house, and his parents, Rafaella and Jack Camarda, could hardly wait to hear from him. When he did call several hours after landing, Mrs. Camarda said yesterday morning, their conversation did not follow a typical "welcome back to Earth" script. "It's your son," Dr. Camarda began.

"Thank God," Mrs. Camarda replied. "It's been such a mess here and it's all your fault. I haven't slept for two nights, speaking with reporters."

Mrs. Camarda, known as Ray, had spent the last few weeks worrying about her son's safety while becoming adept at handling the reporters and photographers who have practically camped out on her doorstep. Yesterday, Mrs. Camarda, surrounded by cameras, watched the Discovery's return on television with friends and family. Everyone was "yelling and crying" when the shuttle touched down, said a family friend, Nancy Parisi.

Mrs. Camarda said that while she had always been proud of her son's accomplishments, she never liked the idea of him becoming an aerospace scientist - or an astronaut.

"I wanted him to do anything else," she recalled. "Electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, anything. I knew if he went into aerospace he'd have to leave home."

In the 60's, she said, the family was captivated by the Mercury and Apollo missions they watched on television.

Ms. Parisi recalled watching episodes of "The Honeymooners" with the Camarda family. When Ralph threatened to send Alice to the moon, Charles would say, "That's where I want to go," Ms. Parisi remembered.

After graduating from Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn in 1974 with a degree in aerospace engineering, Dr. Camarda went to work for NASA in Hampton, Va.

Mrs. Camarda said her son wanted to become an astronaut immediately, but was not admitted to the program. During the next 20 years he received a master's degree from Georgetown University and a doctorate in aerospace engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute. He is a specialist in thermal protection materials.

Ten years ago, he reapplied to NASA's astronaut program, Mrs. Camarda said, and she assumed that he had been rejected. "I thought he was too old, that they wouldn't accept him," she recalled. "When he called to tell me the news, I said, 'Don't feel bad.' He said, 'Mom, you don't understand, I made it.' That shocked me. He even took a cut in salary."

Jack Camarda beamed when he received the first photographs of his son, Dr. Camarda, 53, in a spacesuit, and passed out 8-by-10 glossies to the neighbors.

Mrs. Camarda hopes that the Discovery mission is her son's last trip to space. "If NASA asks him again, he'll go," she said with a sigh. "I hope they don't ask him."