She helped him into the gloves and helmet.
“Aw, Ma,” he whined, “do I hafta?”
“Yes,” she whispered to her son. “In a few years, you would never forgive yourself if you didn’t.”
And she left her son and her husband on Mars and went back to her computer to erase her letter of resignation.
There’s a lot of work to be done, she told herself. The exploration of Mars is just beginning.