This is a terrible, terrible tragedy. From the Chicago Tribune:
Inside her Lombard home, Rose Tani kept a shrine to her astronaut son filled with newspaper clippings of his recent launch, photos of him holding his two children and a framed image of him in a navy blue NASA uniform with the inscription: “Mom, I owe it all to you. All my love. Dan.”
But as Daniel Tani orbited about 200 miles above Earth Wednesday, captive aboard the International Space Station, he had to hear the news that his 90-year-old mother died when a freight train smashed into her car.
Police said Rose Tani was stopped at railroad tracks on Elizabeth Street behind a school bus carrying students from her son’s alma mater when she honked her horn, then went around the bus and past a downed crossing gate.
In what may have been a first for NASA, officials called Daniel Tani over a secure connection to give him the news, then offered any help he might need. One thing they could not supply was a ride home. The soonest Tani can return from space is late January.
NASA spokesman Jim Rostohar said Tani will be given time to grieve in the space station, which is the size of a 31/2-bedroom house.
“He would get whatever personal, psychological and spiritual counseling he would need,” Rostohar said. “He can talk it out through a private phone line.”
The space station is equipped with a Soyuz rescue vehicle usually used only when the lives of the crew are at risk, Rostohar said. Using the Soyuz to bring Tani home could leave the remaining astronauts in jeopardy if there was an emergency.
“Before anyone launches, they understand that unfortunate things could happen and that’s unfortunately part of the difficulties, hardships and risks of space flight,” he said.
Rev. Rob Hatfield, a senior minister at First Church of Lombard United Church of Christ, said the astronaut’s siblings spoke to him Wednesday evening.
“This is a unique situation to be in orbit without a ride home,” said Hatfield, speaking Wednesday on behalf of the family he described as too distraught to comment. “He feels relatively powerless.”
Daniel Tani’s wife could not be reached for comment.
The thoughts of all Americans are with Mr. Tani this day.
What a helpless feeling it must be for the poor man.
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