After learning she was selected for the astronaut corps, Joan resigned from her position at Rice University. At her farewell party, Dr. Siskin prodded her about how she secured the opportunity; Joan deflected with “Luck,” then regretted it. Reflecting on a lifetime of being overlooked compared to her charismatic younger sister, Barbara, Joan left her own party early, preferring anonymity to scrutiny.

Joan then told her family about becoming an astronaut candidate. Over dinner with their parents and Barbara’s daughter, Frances, Barbara repeatedly objected to Joan moving to Clear Lake, while Joan calmly clarified that the move was necessary and that she would remain close to Frances. Joan’s thoughts turned to her history with Barbara: years earlier, Barbara had called Joan in crisis after becoming pregnant, and Joan had stepped in—organizing care, defending Barbara to their parents, and providing hands-on support after Frances’s birth. Those exhausting early months forged Joan’s profound attachment to Frances through small rituals like nighttime sky talks and playtime, even as Joan reshaped her academic path to stay nearby.

The narrative highlighted Frances’s growth into a bright six-year-old with a keen vocabulary and curiosity. Joan cherished their unique bond—“Joanie” and “Franny”—and the realization that her life now included both an astronaut’s ambition and an enduring need for everyday moments with Frances.

Days later, Joan visited Barbara with a pound cake to reiterate her move. Barbara insisted Joan must still take Frances on weekends and punished her by rejecting the cake, but also expressed a wistful admiration for Joan’s freedom and scale of ambition, contrasting it with her own constraints as a single mother.

Joan completed her move to an apartment near Johnson Space Center. On an evening walk, she met fellow Group 9 mission specialists Donna Fitzgerald and John Griffin, sharing an easy, joking rapport about their identical one-bedroom setups and spotting that Lydia Danes might also live in the building. Joan felt an immediate warmth toward Donna and Griffin and sensed the beginnings of close friendships that would soon feel essential.