Mike Levin: “Tomorrow we will welcome home a true American hero, Eastpointe, MI native, astronaut Jerry Linenger. Jerry is returning…”

“Tomorrow we will welcome home a true American hero, Eastpointe, MI native, astronaut Jerry Linenger. Jerry is returning to Earth this weekend aboard the space shuttle Atlantis after a 5 month mission on the Russian space station, Mir. I am sure that Jerry expected his 5 months in space to provide him with innumerable opportunities and challenges, but the challenges he and his crewmates faced were way beyond expectations. They had to fix antifreeze fume leaks which threatened the space station's air supply. The oxygen-generating systems malfunctioned, forcing the crew to activate three backup oxygen canisters each day to provide them with the oxygen they needed to breathe. And, Jerry and his Russian fellow scientists had to extinguish the worst fire ever aboard an orbiting human spacecraft, an ordeal which captured the attention of millions of people in the United States, Russia and around the world. It seemed from this earthly vantage point that the 10 plagues of space travel were being visited on Mir--leaks, lack of oxygen, humidity, fire, temperature, excess CO2, loss of power, lack of supplies and replacement parts, claustrophobia, and separation from family.”