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Nowak seemed no exception. Still, the rigors of training put a strain on her family life; while preparing for missions she often spent weeks away from her husband and children. "There's not a lot of time for [personal things] and less time for family," Nowak said in a 2005 interview. "It's a sacrifice." When NASA chose her to be one of six astronauts on a mission aboard Discovery in July 2006, Nowak's life became even more hectic. "I am lucky to have a very supportive husband," she said in an interview shortly before the shuttle flight. "For me, family is first."
In fact, it was Nowak's son Alexander who helped her confront any fears she felt about going up in space only three years after the tragic explosion of the Columbia space shuttle, which killed seven astronauts, including three of Nowak's former classmates. "The day Columbia happened, [Alex] was there sitting with me, and we're watching the television, and there's people he knows that were on that flight," Nowak told Ladies Home Journal last September. "He reaches over and grabs my hand and says, 'Mom, I still want you to go. . . . I know they'll make it safe again, and I still want you to go.' "
