A month before astronaut David Leestma went into space on the shuttle Columbia, he got news that nearly prompted him to back out of the mission: His pregnant wife had breast cancer.
"At first, I thought of asking them to find someone to take my place. I didn't think I should go," said Leestma, one of five crew members on the Columbia, which ended a secret five-day flight Aug. 13."But Patti is a very strong lady. She would have nothing to do with that," the Muskegon native told The Muskegon Chronicle by telephone Thursday from his office at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Instead, Patti Leestma, due to give birth in December, underwent a radical mastectomy while her husband finished training for his flight. She then started chemotherapy.
When her husband launched into space from Cape Canaveral, Fla., she was there in the crowd to cheer him on. Five days later, when the shuttle landed in the desert at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., she and their five children, ages 1 to 9, were there to greet him.
Leestma, 40, whose only other NASA flight five years ago included a space walk, said he was eager to get back home.
"It didn't affect my job performance or my fascination with space. But . . . well, I'm glad we weren't going up for a long time, one of those monthlong flights."
Leestma said he probably would pass up many of the special appearances and speaking engagements that usually follow NASA flights.
"I'm not in a big mood to go traveling right now," he said. "My place is close to home."
Leestma's previous scheduled space flight, the shuttle that was supposed to track Halley's Comet in early 1987, was canceled because of the Challenger disaster that killed seven crew members.
Just before Leestma's flight this month, his 7-year-old daughter, Katie, asked, "But what if you don't come back, Daddy?"
"I guess I didn't realize how the visions of (the Challenger flight) is still in their minds," Leestma said. "She made me think: `Why am I taking this risk?' "
He said he found solace in his answer.
"The risk is part of my job," he told her. "And I do it because I think it's very, very important for the country and the world."