A story first

Important enough

A 2012 sentence about odds. A 2008 rocket. They are not the same night.

Spaceflight · unfavorable odds · engineering risk

Theme

Courage

What does action look like while fear remains?

Courage in this corpus includes checklists, turning back, asking for help, and refusing a launch. It is not a personality type.

• A square pegApollo 13 · procedure · a lost landing
• Ninety-seven milesAntarctica · turning back · 1909
• Seven treesNairobi · seven trees · 1977
• The pauseAsilomar · recombinant DNA · a voted halt
• The noteCopiapó · the 33 · a letter up a borehole
• Without instrumentsnavigation · Honolua Bay, Maui
• The alarm that was notEarly warning · 1983 · a report he did not make
• The second voteSubmarine · 1962 · a torpedo that was not fired
• I am just going outsideRoss Ice Shelf · 1912 · a tent with one man fewer
• Visas for lifeKaunas · 1940 · transit visas against instruction
• They hugged the treesReni forest · 1974 · Chipko
• The housewives of NiagaraLove Canal · 1978 · a kitchen table becoming a record
• She wrote while dyingSilver Spring · 1962 · a book, not a confession
• Naturally, come inLe Chambon · June 1940 · a kitchen door
• The line that movedHighland Park · 7 October 1913 · a first article
• No hydraulicsSioux City · 1989 · engines as rudder
• Four at the counterGreensboro · 1 February 1960 · four stools
• Is this AmericaAtlantic City · 1964 · a testimony they tried to cover
• The organizer asked to step backWashington · 1963 · the schedule behind the speech
• The leafletsMontgomery · 1955 · a one-day call
• He paddled anywayKaiwi Channel · 1978 · a board, then a search
• Not yetFDA · 1960–62 · a signature she would not give
• The little shipsDunkirk · 26 May 1940 · an operation, first day slow