As the Discovery crew prepares for takeoff, we will take some time and talk about how two apparently ordinary lives have turned into two extraordinary life stories. STS-199 Mission Specialists Joe Acaba and Richard Arnold were two teachers dreaming of space, and now they are two astronauts preparing for mission.

Becoming an astronaut is a life changing experience, not only for the astronauts themselves, but also for the people around them, who take them as examples. And these examples should be taken as a whole, Acaba suggested. Children learn more about examples that they spend a lot of time with, and in him they should see a person who worked hard in his schooling and jobs to become successful.

Both Acaba and Arnold were selected as astronauts one year after Columbia the year before Return to Flight. When he got the phone call, there was no doubt in his mind that such an opportunity doesn’t come often, he knew he had to accept it and he is happy he did, Acaba said.

Despite the tough lessons NASA had to learn over the years, and the tragedies that have happened, Arnold knew it was something that needed to be done, and that tragedies are no reason to quit, but rather experiences to learn from.

The shuttle Discovery is preparing for a 14-day mission, during which it will deliver the final set of solar array wings for the International Space Station to complete the station’s truss. The mission was initially scheduled to launch on February 12, but it has been delayed multiple times.