Astonaut From Lombard Loses His Mother While In Orbit.

I myself had the unfortunate tragedy of losing my beloved mother Joyce after 43 wonderful years on November 29th, my birthday just passed, to advanced liver disease which was accompanied with unforeseen complications that arose during her treatment in the hospital, which has been an incredibly painful experience thus far as those of who have lost a parent can attest.

However, at least being with her through those final moments in this life brought us some comfort while she fought bravely through her illness, ultimately losing her tough battle at 63 years old, far sooner than we had ever thought about losing her. Below is my favorite picture of her from 1984.
This unfortunately is not a circumstance that a locally raised NASA Astronaut currently orbiting earth on the space station will be afforded as his mother, who lived locally here in Lombard Illinois about 20 minutes from my neighborhood was killed yesterday while she inexplicably passed a stopped bus at a railroad crossing and was struck in her vehicle by the passing train.

She was by all accounts a fine woman of 90 years old who I'm sure will be missed by all her loved ones after a long illustrious life, but for her son it is going to be more difficult than usual I would imagine being stuck in space during her tragic death, an unprecedented occurrence in the life span of the space program thus far.

My prayers go out to he and his family, and hopefully he will find at least some comfort while soaring in the heavens as his mother passes on knowing that he credited her for his being there in the first place so they may still cross paths one final time yet.

May God rest her soul along with my dear mother and hopefully astronaut Daniel Tani is able to sufficiently deal with this unusual loss as well in the same fine way he has conducted his exemplary life.

Crash kills astronaut's mom

chicagotribune.com: "Inside her Lombard home, Rose Tani kept a shrine to her astronaut son filled with newspaper clippings of his recent launch, photos of him holding his two children and a framed image of him in a navy blue NASA uniform with the inscription: 'Mom, I owe it all to you. All my love. Dan.'

But as Daniel Tani orbited about 200 miles above Earth Wednesday, captive aboard the International Space Station, he had to hear the news that his 90-year-old mother died when a freight train smashed into her car.

Police said Rose Tani was stopped at railroad tracks on Elizabeth Street behind a school bus carrying students from her son's alma mater when she honked her horn, then went around the bus and past a downed crossing gate."In what may have been a first for NASA, officials called Daniel Tani over a secure connection to give him the news, then offered any help he might need. One thing they could not supply was a ride home. The soonest Tani can return from space is late January.

NASA spokesman Jim Rostohar said Tani will be given time to grieve in the space station, which is the size of a 31/2-bedroom house. continued

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