Once the shuttle reached orbit, the force of the four G launch lifted.  It was like “a huge gorilla had been squishing them and then he threw them off a cliff.*”

They were weightless.  And it felt like magic.  They unbuckled their seat belts and began floating around the cockpit.

“I think you topped Paris,” said Bea to Prudy.

“No, YOU did,” replied Prudy.  “I just got you started.” They hugged warmly.

“Look!” shouted Purity “there’s New York and California.”

“And Australia and Hawaii…” said Prudy.

“And China and the Himalayas…” said Bea.  We are going so fast past all those places.  They kept looking out the window.  They marveled at the earth and how beautiful it was. Bea felt so deeply honored to be seeing her planet from this perspective.  She knew no other teenage gals got to see stuff like this.

Six hours later, they docked at the new international Space Station. The space station had the latest in technology including the ability to add gravity to any room on the station. This made the station a bit more like Earth.   Of course, some rooms and passageways were left without gravity, so the astronauts could enjoy floating around the station too.

The astronauts were so excited to have three new people to talk to.  They were especially happy to discover both girls were high school students and their oldest sister was a teacher.

“First Teacher in Space!” Bea called out!

All of a sudden, folks got a bit grim.

“Did I say something wrong?” asked Bea.

“No,” said Commander Chris Hadfield. “We are just all remembering teacher Christina McAuliff and how she died in the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion in 1986.  That’s her picture there…” He pointed to a framed picture on the wall of the station.

“Let me show you to your quarters,” smiled Commander Hadfield.

They walked down several corridors until they made their way to a luxury suite on the station.

Inside, every thing was black and white, but it was surprisingly cozy. The room was a comfortable temperature and they each had their own room.

“You’ll want to rest and put on your gear before you come down to dinner,” said the commander.  He smiled at Prudy as he said it.

“Yes, let’s see how we can wrestle into out space suits,” said Purity.

“Our space suits are pink!” announced Bea.

“Yes, we enjoy color around here.  Between the black of space and the black and white colors in all the rooms, we love to enjoy all the colors of the rainbow up here.  Helps us not miss Earth so much,” The commander explained.

He left the girls to relax for a while.

“See ya later,” he winked to Prudy as he left.

*From online article Business Insider.com: Astronaut Canadian Chris Hadfield Discusses What a Shuttle Launch Feels Like. Writer : Jennifer Welch December 13, 2012.