Free The Astro Outlaw by David A. Kelly

Houston, We Have a Problem
    Mike Walsh stared out of a big white space helmet. His breathing echoed in his ears. He saw a spacecraft from the corner of his eye. It felt like he was walking on the moon.
    Mike tried to lift up the helmet’s shiny gold visor so he could see better. But the thick rubbery astronaut gloves he wore made it hard. His fingers fumbled with the helmet.
    “Houston, we have a problem!” Mike said to his cousin Kate Hopkins. “I’m trapped!”
    It was spring break. Kate, Mike, and Kate’s dad were taking a VIP tour of NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. They were in town to visit Mr. Ryan, a friend of Kate’s dad. Like Mr. Hopkins, Mr. Ryan was a baseball scout. He worked for the Houston Astros and had given them free tickets for the tour and the Astros game that night.
    Kate laughed. “The only problem Houston has is
you
!” she said, shaking her head. Mike was always fooling around. Kate flipped up the gold visor on his helmet. “Commander Rice told us how to open the visor earlier.”
    “Can’t hear you,” Mike joked. “We’re on the moon, remember? Sound waves can’t travel because there’s no air in space.”
    Kate rolled her eyes and turned to watch Commander Rice, the tall, athletic astronaut leading the tour. Other than Kate, Mike, andMr. Hopkins, the rest of the people on the tour were local business owners. Kate and Mike had met Sam Shine, a used-car dealer, Tex Rayburn, who owned a hat store called Fat Hats, and Manuel Lopez, an insurance salesman. The group was in a large training room filled with spacecraft replicas. Commander Rice was showing them how astronauts lived and worked in space. He picked up a chunk of black rock and held it out to the group.
    “Is that a moon rock?” Tex Rayburn asked. He wore black cowboy boots and a black cowboy hat. His big brass belt buckle spelled out FAT HATS .
    Commander Rice shook his head. “No, it’s just a model we use for training,” he told Tex. “Maybe I can show you a real one later. They’re very valuable.”
    “Shoot. You can put your boots in theoven, but that don’t make ’em biscuits,” Tex said. “I reckon we can wait a little to see a
real
moon rock.”
    Commander Rice put the rock down on a nearby table. Then he explained how astronauts take showers in space. Or how they don’t. In space, regular showers won’t work. Without gravity, water doesn’t fall to the ground. Instead, astronauts use damp towels to wash up.
    “Where do y’all get the water from?” Sam asked.
    “We bring water with us,” Commander Rice said. “Or we recycle it from the air and the water we use every day. We even have to recycle toilet water. Anyone want a sip?”
    “YUCK!” Kate said, making a face.
    Most of the members of the tour shook their heads. “No thank you,” Tex said. “I always drink upstream from the herd.”
    Commander Rice laughed. “The filters make our water cleaner than any creek.” He checked his watch. “I still have time to show you the mission control room.”
    Kate rapped Mike’s helmet with her knuckles. “Hey, take that off. We’re going to see mission control!”
    Mike removed the helmet and placed it on a table. Tex slapped him on the back.
    “Son, that helmet’s too hot for Houston. Stop by my store, Fat Hats!” Tex boomed. He handed Mike a business card. It had a picture of a ten-gallon hat on it. “We’ll fix y’all up with a proper Texas hat.”
    Tex winked at Mike and followed Commander Rice through the door. Mike and Kate rushed to catch up. The commander led them to a building across the street.
    After passing through security, they wentup a flight of stairs and through a heavy door. To their side stood four long rows of metal desks, filled with old-fashioned computers. Five large screens hung on the wall at the front of the room. Pictures of the moon, the earth, and a map of the world played across them.

    “Welcome to NASA’s mission control,” Commander Rice said.