Enhancing hubble s vision service missions that expanded our view of the universe 1st edition david
Enhancing Hubble s Vision Service Missions That Expanded Our View of the Universe
1st Edition David J. Shayler
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Mammoth Science The Big Ideas That Explain Our World 1st Edition David Macaulay
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Front cover: John Grunsfeld and Andrew Feustel, Mission Specialists from STS-125, the final Hubble Servicing mission, are pictured close to the telescope on this the first of five EVAs conducted on the mission. The shiny mirror-like surface of Hubble reflects their image, implying there are more astronauts than just two.
Rear cover: The companion title The Hubble Space Telescope: From Concept To Success, plus the emblems of the final four shuttle missions to the Hubble Space Telescope STS-82 (top left), STS-103 (right), STS-109 (bottom left) and STS-125 (right).
Cover design: Jim Wilkie
Project Editor: David M. Harland
Printed on acid-free paper
Praxis is a brand of Springer Springer International Publishing AG Switzerland is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com)
Preface
As this project unfolded, it became clear that the amount of information researched and volunteered by the various contacts would be sufficient to generate more than one book. I have long believed there is always a greater story behind each space mission, but it takes a little investigation and contacts to reveal that bigger picture. This project on Hubble and its capability to be serviced on-orbit began for me in the 1970s, when I started to gather information on the potential of EVA from the space shuttle. I collected and filed additional details over the next two decades, and after the deployment of the telescope and the series of servicing missions.
By the late 1990s I had enough information for an illustrated lecture entitled Keeping an Eye on the Universe: The Shuttle Hubble Servicing Missions which was given over the next few years to astronomical societies across the English Midlands. It is strange how ideas develop from the most unlikely sources. In 1996 I was working as a wine representative for an international (German) wine company, where I visited homes and businesses for wine tastings. At these appointments it was always useful to find out about the people you hope will place an order with you. It also helped by telling a little about your own background. While visiting a family in Leicestershire, I learned that their son was working in the United States in a support role for a contractor to the shuttle—in fact, he was working on the preparations for the second Hubble servicing mission which was to fly the following year. When I said that I, too, was interested in the space program, they offered some spare press releases and other bits of information sent by their son. It was this visit that sparked an idea for a future project. It was clear that the family were proud of their son’s involvement in the shuttle program, albeit a small contribution. Nevertheless, they understood that without such efforts, the payload wouldn’t be ready, the shuttle couldn’t fly, and the telescope wouldn’t be repaired. I said that one day I would like to write about the missions that serviced Hubble and explain how people who worked in the background and in support roles were just as important as the astronauts who flew the missions. Over the next decade, that idea evolved into the proposal for this project.
Following the launch of the telescope in 1990, and the successful repair and servicing of the optics in 1993, the intensity placed on the second or third servicing missions seemed to be played down in the wider media, although in trade magazines and to those closely involved in the program this was certainly not the case. Each mission was as important as the last, and by its successes or setbacks it helped with planning the next flight.
When it was agreed by Springer to divide the story into two volumes, it became clear that the most suitable cutoff was the success of STS-61 and the first servicing mission. Therefore the first part of the story, related in The Hubble Space Telescope: From Concept To Success, would capture the early proposals and developments for creating a telescope to be serviced by astronauts in space, and the facilities, tools and infrastructure to achieve that. It would tell the story from its early concepts, through changes of design and wrangles with funding, to the success of launch, the disappointment of discovering the optics were flawed, and the pressure to deliver on the promise of servicing that was so successfully demonstrated by STS-61.
This book takes up the story with preparations for the second servicing mission. Although this was developed in the shadow of its higher-profile processor, the crew were determined to ensure that their mission was just as important and successful. The story continues with the difficulties encountered during preparations for the third servicing mission, at a time when it was thought Hubble was close to major failure, and when it was a challenge even to get the shuttle off the ground. Following the success in splitting the third mission into two flights, 3A and 3B, there was considerable debate, both prior to and after the loss of Columbia in 2003 about mounting another servicing mission. In the end, the success to date, a certain amount of political and scientific influence, and a growing public awareness of the spectacular results of the telescope made Hubble a popular project. As a result, a move to reinstate another visit to the facility developed momentum. The background to this final mission, and its achievements recalled here, does not mark the end of the Hubble servicing story. Far from it. In many ways the story continues with the hardware which was returned during the five missions, because a study of this material is helping to improve the design of future spacecraft and the techniques used to fly them.
At the time of writing (May 2015), Hubble is still operating, sending back reams of data of our universe. It also captures information which, although not so newsworthy, is contributing to our understanding of how large items of hardware endure long term exposure to the space environment, how internal components are able to perform 24/7, 365 days a year and, as with Hubble, for over a quarter of a century. This is important not only for today’s spacecraft such as the International Space Station, but also in the development of future components, systems and structures that will fly in decades to come.
The story of the Hubble Space Telescope is not simply one of science and astronomy, of engineering and technology, it is also about human endeavor and enterprise, of an investment in an international team dedicated not only to keeping the telescope flying across decades, but to analyzing the data and results as well as gaining the engineering insights that will deliver results long after the telescope is turned off or sent to a fiery
re-entry in Earth’s atmosphere, something it has long tried to resist. This is the story not only of astronauts and astronomers, flight controllers and engineers, but also of hundreds of workers whose small contributions to the bigger picture have resulted in placing instruments in space to advance our understanding of our universe.
David J. Shayler, FBIS Director, Astro Info Service Ltd www.astroinfoservice.co.uk Halesowen,
West Midlands, UK May 2015
Acknowledgements
As reflected in the companion title The Hubble Space Telescope: From Concept To Success, “This was a far reaching project involving the support and cooperation of a number of individuals whose names are etched in the history books of the Hubble Space Telescope program.” As a result, I duplicate my thanks to the very talented and dedicated individuals whose assistance in this project extended and expanded the original proposal.
Firstly, I must extend my personal thanks and appreciation to all who have offered their help and assistance in compiling both books, from those who supplied information or offered their recollections and experiences to those who pointed me in the right directions. There are also a number of people who worked tirelessly on the production side, which is never an easy task.
My thanks go to a number of former astronauts who went out of their way to provide at times some very personal recollections of their time working on the Hubble service missions, as well as their insights into the “real” workings of what it means to be an astronaut and all that this entails. Specific to the Hubble missions, my thanks go to Steve Hawley who, in addition to providing valuable explanations of what it was like to “be the arm man,” also crafted the Foreword to the book. With Bruce McCandless, Steve also offered personal recollections of the mission to deploy the telescope. From the crew of STS-61 my thanks go to Dick Covey, Tom Akers, Jeff Hoffman and Story Musgrave; from STS-82, Steve Smith, Joe Tanner, and once again Steve Hawley supplied useful information in response to my queries; Mike Foale and European astronaut Jean-François “Billy-Bob” Clervoy provided generous support; and from STS-109 Jim Newman and “Digger” Carey gave fascinating insights into their roles and experiences on the fourth service mission. Charles Shaw is to be thanked for providing the Afterword to the book.
Other astronauts who helped in my research included Bob “Crip” Crippen and “Pinky” Nelson who explained both the early years of shuttle rendezvous and the servicing of the Solar Max satellite, a precursor to the Hubble missions. Thanks also to Paul Richards, who explained his role in developing tools for Hubble in the years before he became an astronaut and used those same tools on the ISS during 2001.
Significant and important support came from the Public Affairs Office at Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, in particular Susan Hendrix, Lynn Chandler and Adrienne Alessandro. Also from Goddard, my thanks go to several individuals who provided insights into the background world of Hubble servicing: Preston Burch, Joyce King, Ben Reed, Ed Rezac, Ed Cheung, Al Vernacchio and Russ Werneth.
At the Johnson Space Center, my thanks go to Robert Trevino for his explanations of how its EVA support team functioned. Former Flight Director and Hubble Mission Director Chuck Shaw explained in great detail the working of Mission Control in Houston, and his role in support of Hubble servicing. The Public Affairs staff at JSC, and former employees who worked at what used to be the History Office at JSC, now Clear Lake University, the Collections held at Rice University then at NARA in Fort Worth, together with those at the Still Photo Library and Audio Library at JSC and Media Services at KSC have, over a period of many years, supported my research, including the early days of this project. They include: Eileen Hawley, Barbara Schwartz, Dave Portree, Glenn Swanson, Jeff Carr, James Hartsfield, Janet Kovacevich, Joey Pellerin, Joan Ferry, Margaret Persinger, Lisa Vazquez, Diana Ormsbee, Jody Russell, Mike Gentry, and Kay Grinter. And Ed Hengeveld is to be thanked for supplying some of the illustrations. In addition, my thanks go to Lee Saegesser, Roger Launius and Bill Barry at the History Office in NASA Headquarters for years of support and interest in my work.
At Lockheed, my thanks go to Andrea Greenan, Buddy Nelson and Ron Sheffield. At the European Space Agency, I must thank Carl Walker and Lother Gerlach, with appreciation to Claude Nicollier for his offer of assistance. I am grateful to John Davis at Hawker Siddley Dynamics/BAe Systems for information on a proposed orbiting astronomical observatory. And I thank once again Suzann Parry and the staff of the British Interplanetary Society in London for access to their library archives. I must also express my appreciation to Andrew Brown, Joachim Becker of Spacefacts.de and Mark Wade of Astronautix.com for permission to use some of their images. All images are courtesy of NASA and from the AIS collection unless otherwise stated.
On the production side, I must thank Clive Horwood at Praxis in England, Nora Rawn and Maury Solomon at Springer in New York, and project editor David M. Harland for his expert guidance, additional efforts (and patience!). These projects are never easy. I must also thank Jim Wilkie for his skills in turning my cover ideas into the finished product.
Love and appreciation go to my wife Bel for all the effort spent transcribing the numerous audio-taped interviews in the AIS collection, and scanning numerous images for the book, and to my mother Jean Shayler for the hours spent reading the whole document and for her helpful suggestions to improve the manuscript. Apologies must also go to both of them for the weeks spent away from all our home improvements, days out, and cooking nice meals. Finally, I express my apologies to our wonderful German Shepherd Jenna for having missed out on more than a few long walks!
To one and all, a huge thank-you.
Foreword
The success of STS-61, Servicing Mission 1, not only restored the optical performance of the Hubble Space Telescope to that originally intended, it also showed that on-orbit servicing by astronauts was feasible. Whereas STS-61 was a repair mission, STS-82, Servicing Mission 2, was an upgrade mission. Its primary objectives were to install two new science instruments and to improve the data recording facility by replacing a reel-to-reel tape recorder with a solid state data recorder. After STS-61 there had been some concern that NASA had barely escaped disaster due to the flaw in the primary mirror, and that because the telescope was functioning well, perhaps it would be better to leave well-enough alone. However, because continuing to upgrade the instruments to keep the telescope state-ofthe-art was important to maximizing the scientific return on investment, the risks of doing so were deemed to be acceptable.
Among the risks were the modified first-generation solar arrays. As we planned and trained for the second servicing mission, we knew that the structural integrity of the solar arrays was going to be a significant concern and that we would have no replacements onboard the shuttle if the arrays became damaged. A persistent static-twist meant the arrays would need to remain deployed throughout the mission. That would affect clearances with the RMS and the EVA crewmembers, and require minimizing the loads induced by RMS maneuvering or EVA tasks. Furthermore, a new reboost technique would have to be devised that could raise the orbit of the telescope without imparting excessive loads on the arrays.
We encountered other surprises upon arrival. After we captured the telescope and were able to inspect it, I thought it looked significantly “weathered” since I had last seen it seven years earlier on STS-31. The yellow EVA handrails looked like they had been scorched. There were numerous small holes in the solar arrays caused by impacts from micrometeoroids and orbital debris, and a much larger hole in one of the high gain antennas. The multilayer insulation on the Sun-facing side of the telescope appeared brittle, and was peeling off in many locations. However, the detailed planning and months of training for the mission paid off and enabled us to accomplish the scheduled upgrade and servicing tasks. Despite the appearance of wear and tear, the telescope was performing normally.
xiii
After STS-82, my role during the servicing missions changed from crewmember to crew representative to the Hubble Space Telescope Program and to the Mission Management Team. Management was responsible for mission readiness and for determining the course of action when things were not going as planned on-orbit. Our job was to let the crew concentrate on the tasks that they needed to do while we figured out how to respond to any problems, including, when necessary, developing new plans or procedures for the crew. For example, a problem developed with one of the freon coolant loops shortly after the launch of STS-109. By flight rules, the loss of a freon loop would be cause to terminate the mission. We were able to assess the situation, including the actual heat loads and cooling capability along with the options available if the situation should get worse, and made the decision to allow the mission to continue. That crew installed the ACS instrument and a new set of solar arrays. On STS-103, after replacement of the failed gyros and the installation of a new computer, the Mission Management Team decided to cancel the final EVA in order to provide a margin that would assure landing prior to December 31, 1999, due to an abundance of caution regarding “Y2K” concerns.
Today, as a professor of astronomy, I share with my students both my experiences in space with Hubble and its latest scientific results. However, as we celebrated the 25th anniversary of its launch, I realized that as far as my students are aware, the telescope has always been there. They simply don’t know what it took to make it arguably the single most important scientific instrument ever built. So, I tell them about the 1946 paper by Dr. Lyman Spitzer pointing out the benefits to be gained from placing a large telescope in space. That vision was echoed over the ensuing two decades by influential astronomers to develop the requisite political support. NASA began a Phase A study for a Large Space Telescope in 1973 and Congress authorized it as a new start in 1977. After 13 years of development and test, the telescope, then named in honor of Edwin Hubble, was launched in 1990. Five shuttle missions over the next 19 years left the HST as it is today, a state-ofthe-art telescope with better capability than it had when we launched it on STS-31.
I want my students to understand that Hubble didn’t just happen. It was the result of vision, advocacy, dedication, persistence, technical skill, teamwork, leadership and courage. It is due to this dedicated effort by many individuals that the HST has revolutionized our understanding of the universe and will continue to do so for several more years, and perhaps for decades with use of the data archive. Now that the Space Shuttle Program has ceased operations, perhaps those same qualities will allow the development of a way to continue to maintain the HST on-orbit using one of the new launch systems currently under development.
Dr. Steve Hawley Professor, Physics and Astronomy Director, Engineering Physics
Adjunct Professor Aerospace Engineering University of Kansas
Former NASA Astronaut (Mission Specialist STS 41-D, 61-C,-31,-82 and -93)
Steve Hawley, wearing a NASA flight suit that displays the emblems of his five shuttle missions. Most prominent are those for his two Hubble missions: STS-31 (on his right) and STS82 (on his left arm under the flag patch).
The end of more than one era, with the last shuttle-based EVAs occurring during the final servicing of the Hubble Space Telescope in May 2009.
This project is dedicated to Hubble Huggers everywhere. In particular recalling the work, skills, and dedication of all who worked, from the ground up, on the Hubble servicing program, and to their families for allowing them to devote time to work when they really should have been at home.
Also to the memory of Andrew Salmon (1961–2013)
Fellow author and amateur astronomer who would have loved this project, and who would have offered countless suggestions and guidance and probably a third title.
Prologue
A “noble endeavor” is what Roundup, the newspaper of the Johnson Space Center called the success of the STS-61 crew at the Hubble Space Telescope in its January 14, 1994 (Volume 33 No. 2) photo celebration article recalling the recently completed first servicing mission. It had taken four years and five spacewalks to arrive at the point where the telescope was fully operational.
The concept of an optical telescope orbiting high above the vision-restricting confines of our planet’s atmosphere had intrigued scientists for over four decades when it was finally launched aboard Discovery on STS-31 in April 1990. After several worrying moments, the telescope was successfully deployed by the crew. During its checkout, after the deployment crew had come home, it was discovered that a flaw existed in the primary mirror. As a result the majority of the images were of poor quality at the very least. The astronaut crew was not at fault. The problem lay in the fabrication of the mirror several years before. After over two decades of promotion and expectation, delays and budget wrangling it was a great relief to have the telescope finally in space, but the realization that it was faulty was a great setback and bitter disappointment. It was also a huge embarrassment to NASA, at a time when the shuttle was struggling to get off the ground owing to hydrogen leaks in the orbiter, and budget woes with the planned Freedom Space Station.
The only glimmer of hope was that the telescope had been designed for orbital servicing by shuttle astronauts on EVA. The problem was that the primary mirror was not one of the candidates for servicing, and the original option of returning the telescope to Earth for routine maintenance and upgrading had been canceled several years previously. At this time of despair, NASA dug in its heels and found the solution to the mirror problem by devising an ingenious set of mirrors that would reflect the images in a manner that would correct the distortion. The agency also set about overcoming the problems with the shuttle in order to send the planned first servicing crew to the telescope. The problems with the space station would require more work, but the EVA program to service the telescope would provide valuable information for the forthcoming space station EVA program.
In December 1993 the first servicing mission, STS-61, restored the quality of the images from Hubble and NASA’s reputation flew high once again. In January 1994, 5 weeks after the engineering checkout of the optical alignment of the telescope and the calibration of its instruments, it was declared fully operational. The installation of the COSTAR package had corrected the images, which were now “as perfect as engineering can achieve and as the laws of physical will allow,” stated Jim Crocker, Space Telescope Science Institute Team Leader for that package, in the Roundup issue for January 21, 1994 (Volume 33 No. 3). STS-61 had been called the most challenging and rewarding mission since the days of Apollo. Recalling those golden days at NASA, Dr. Chris Burrows of the Space Telescope Science Institute said, “It’s been a small change for a mirror, but a giant leap for astronomy.”
As recalled at the end of the companion title, The Hubble Space Telescope: From Concept To Success, Dan Goldin, the NASA Administrator at that time, stated in the same Roundup, “This is phase two of a fabulous two-part success story. The world watched in wonder last month as the astronauts performed an unprecedented and incredibly smooth series of space walks. Now, we see the real fruits of their work, and that of the entire NASA team.”
Senator Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md), who chaired the Appropriations Committee, was delighted. “What a wonderful victory this is for the Hubble team of astronauts, astronomers, scientists and engineers. Together they are moving American science and technology into the 21st century with exciting new opportunities for science and economic progress.”
Loren Shriver, a former astronaut who commanded the mission that deployed the Hubble Space Telescope and then managed launch integration at the Kennedy Space Center, said that the success of the first servicing mission, “opens up the whole range of observation we had hoped for, and the mission proved what the program said all along; that the 15–20 year life of the telescope requires a servicing mission every few years. We proved that concept is workable.” Shriver also emphasized three important points which made the STS-61 mission possible. Firstly, from very early in the program the telescope itself had been designed to be capable of on-orbit maintenance and repair; secondly the huge ground and training team were focused upon attention to detail; and finally the importance of robotics, especially the Remote Manipulator System, made the tasks much easier. Shriver also pointed out that, “All of these are equally important for space station operations because if we have something designed to be worked on in space, and do it properly, it will make the task a lot easier when it comes time to do it.”
Reflecting upon the period of over 2 years that it took to develop the on-orbit operations for STS-61, the mission training manager, Dawn Thomas acknowledged, “It was satisfaction with a job well done. We can look at the results of the mission and see the time and effort put into the training was worth it.” It was not until the pictures came back from the telescope and confirmed that the flaw in the primary mirror had been fixed, that STS-61 could be classified as a total success. The successful demonstration of the concept of onorbit servicing had far reaching applications, not only for future Hubble servicing but also for the space station and beyond. Several months later, honors were awarded to the wider Hubble servicing team. Over 40 individuals and 27 teams from various NASA field centers, contractors and support teams were recognized for their contributions to the success of the first Hubble servicing mission.
In reflecting upon the success of STS-61, Dan Goldin noted the dedication of the Hubble servicing team, something that would become standard over the next 15 years, “Men and women, all across the agency, committed themselves to this effort. They never wavered in their belief that the Hubble Space Telescope is a true international treasure.”
And that was the point. Hubble had been transformed from a NASA embarrassment to not just a national treasure but to an international one, if not exactly overnight, certainly over the course of the STS-61 mission. At last there was an optical facility on-orbit which could reveal so much more about the universe, and indeed about us, than could have been possible before. But to do this, Hubble had to have been designed to be upgraded and maintained over a very long period of time. The STS-61 mission was just the start of a demanding program designed not only to keep the telescope operating but also to upgrade its instruments in order to enable it to continue to deliver first class science.
As STS-61 flew, plans were being defined for what the next servicing mission would do, and indeed the one after that. Between February 1997 and May 2009, four further servicing crews visited Hubble. They restored systems, replaced instruments, attended to the aging of the telescope and fixed numerous smaller issues, as well as photo-documenting its degrading condition. All this was vital information for future telescopes, space servicing techniques and the International Space Station. Each crew was immensely proud of their small contribution to the overall effort, and each crew was also clearly told not to break the telescope, as it was a national treasure. On Earth, scores of engineers, scientists, controllers, managers and workers toiled over minuscule details for each new part sent to the telescope, and later over every part returned from the telescope. There are so many engineering lessons to be learned that it will take years to analyze and apply them all.
The people who devoted years (in many cases entire careers) to ensuring that the telescope delivers its promise year after year are affectionately known as “Hubble Huggers.” With the shuttle retired and with there now being no current capability for on-orbit servicing, or Earth return, the twilight of the Hubble era is approaching. It is therefore fitting that a part of the story to keep Hubble flying for over a quarter of a century is now recorded.
If one object sent into space is widely recognized and acknowledged, then it is the Hubble Space Telescope. Members of the public can readily relate to the astonishing images that the telescope returns. Scientists are eager for the scientific measurements. But the true success of Hubble lies in the decision, right at the start, to enable the telescope to be serviced in space. This capability saved it on several occasions, upgraded its instruments, and extended its life far beyond that envisaged. The talents and devotion of the astronaut crews is matched by the immense ground teams that have made Hubble the success it is.
As Dan Goldin noted, the Hubble story can be divided into different phases. The struggle to get the telescope designed and built, then funded and launched, together with the efforts to enable it to be serviceable in space, and thus demonstrate that concept, was the theme of the companion book From Concept To Success. From 1994 to the spring of 2015, the other part of the story, in this volume, details the challenges of keeping the telescope operating beyond its original mission life and upgrading it so that by the time the final servicing crew returned to Earth the telescope was rather more capable that its designers had envisaged. That effort and success transformed Hubble from being an anonymous item of space hardware into an object of pride and affection. The Hubble Space Telescope
has, in its own lifetime, become a source of international interest, scientific value, and world headlines. It is truly a “national treasure” for America.
Like Voyager before it, Hubble’s longevity and success, together with the stunning images captured by its instruments, created its appeal and growing affection. For those who had the good fortune to work directly on the missions that enabled that affection to grow, there is an intense pride in being not only part of space history, but also in being part of a team which overcame so many hurdles to enable those pages of space history to be written in glowing admiration of a job well done.
Service Mission 2
The point of the second service mission was not to fix Hubble, but to improve it.
Steve Hawley, STS-82 Mission Specialist
Following on from the success of the first Hubble service mission in December 1993, the main media focus shifted to the forthcoming flights of American astronauts to the Russian Mir space station and the transformation from what was to have been the American Space Station Freedom with the cooperation of a number of foreign partners, to the newly designated fully International Space Station which would use some of the hardware originally intended for Mir 2 before those plans were put on hold by the breakup of the Soviet Union. To accommodate missions to both Mir and the ISS, NASA had to sacrifice some of the planned scientific missions on the shuttle. Several Spacelab pressurized module and pallet missions were excised from the manifest, but planning for a further three (possibly four) service missions to Hubble remained firmly on the manifest, although the preparations to launch them would be as challenging as ever.
A DIFFICULT ACT TO FOLLOW
In contrast to the first service mission, the progress towards the second mission and the media coverage of it, was markedly different. Hubble had been restored to its full potential and whilst there was an instrument failure just prior to the mission, there was not the urgency and public attention of that first mission. Being first was always a difficult act to follow, and so it was for SM-2, but it was a challenge the STS-82 crew and the ground team were determined to take up.
The SM-2 emblem illustrated the cooperative teamwork that supported each servicing mission.
Naming the crew
On May 31, 1995, NASA named the EVA crew for the second Hubble service mission, which was scheduled to launch in early 1997.1 They were assigned in advance of the rest of the crew to make an early start on their EVA training. They were Joseph R. “Joe” Tanner (MS1 and EV4), Gregory J. Harbaugh (MS3 and EV3), Mark C. Lee (MS4, EV1 and Payload Commander), and Steven L. Smith. (MS5 and EV2). The four were paired up into two teams, with Lee and Smith assigned to the first, third and fifth (if that was required). Harbaugh and Tanner were assigned to the second and fourth EVAs. For identification purposes on the video downlink and photographs Lee wore a suit with solid red stripes, Tanner had diagonal red stripes, Harbaugh had broken red lines, and Smith’s suit had no stripes.
That left the Orbiter crew to be named. On February 29, 1996, Steven A. Hawley returned to astronaut status after serving in various management positions in NASA. He was assigned to the crew of STS-82 as MS2. In addition to being Flight Engineer, assisting on the flight deck during ascent and entry, he would be in charge of operating the RMS. Then on March 15, 1996, NASA completed the crew by naming Kenneth D. Bowersox Commander and Scott J. “Doc” Horowitz as Pilot.2
The STS-82 crew on-orbit (left to right) Tanner, Hawley, Lee, Bowersox, Smith, Horowitz and Harbaugh. The traditional inflight crew portrait was taken after completion of the five EVAs. The sign held by the crew and the shirts bearing an image from Hubble paid tribute to the telescope and the team of controllers on the ground.
A mixture of experience and familiarity
Once again, the crew was highly experienced, with 15 flights and two spacewalks between them. Ken Bowersox was chosen as an astronaut candidate in June 1987 as a member of Group 12. He had previously flown as Pilot on STS-50 in 1992 and on STS-61 in 1993, the previous service mission. Having led the STS-73 mission less than 6 months earlier, this would be his second flight as mission commander. “Doc” Horowitz had joined the astronaut team in March 1992 (Group 14). His appointment to the STS-82 crew came only a week after his return from piloting STS-75. Assisting the two pilots on the flight deck was Steve Hawley, an astronaut for 18 years (1978, Group 8) who flew on STS-31, the Hubble deployment mission, some 6 years earlier. He also brought a wealth of experience from flying as a Mission Specialist on STS-41D in 1984 and on STS-61-C in 1986.
The EVA crew was led by Mark Lee, a member of the 1984 Class (Group 10) who had flown on STS-30 in 1989, STS-47 in 1992 and STS-64 in 1994, and had worked on Hubble issues even before the telescope was deployed. Joining Lee on two, possibly three EVAs was Steve Smith, who had been selected for astronaut training with Horowitz in 1992 and had flown on STS-68 in 1994. Greg Harbaugh was selected as an astronaut along with Bowersox and had flown on STS-39 in 1991, STS-54 in 1993 and STS-71 in 1995. He would work with Joe Tanner, another 1992 (Group 14) candidate who had flown on STS-66 in 1994.
For two of the veterans, this would be their second Hubble mission. Hawley had been on the deployment crew and Bowersox on the first servicing crew, so their experiences and knowledge would be an advantage in preparing the crew for the task ahead, especially because Hawley had been the lead RMS operator on STS-31 and Bowersox had served as the backup RMS operator on STS-61. Harbaugh also brought Hubble experience, having served as backup EVA astronaut and Capcom for STS-61.
None of the seven astronauts had flown together before, but Horowitz, Tanner and Smith had been selected in the same group. As a crew, they brought a broad mixture of skills to the flight. Lee and Harbaugh had both participated in EVA demonstration tests in preparation for both the Hubble and space station programs, with Lee being the first to test fly the SAFER maneuvering unit untethered. This prior experience meant they took the lead with their rookie EVA partners.
Hubble’s bible
As a young child, Steve Smith was fascinated by television coverage of the undersea world of Jacques Cousteau and the early space missions. He drew pictures of spacewalking astronauts, little knowing that one day he would do so himself. “A lot of children don’t really know what they want to do but I was one of the ones that did,” he explained.3
In 1989 Smith had joined NASA as a payload officer, and he believes this experience was invaluable prior to becoming and astronaut. At the time of the STS-31 mission the following spring, “I was a trainee in the back room of Mission Control, so I wasn’t in the prime role of doing anything, but I was responsible for monitoring and helping to resolve any problems both with the Hubble communications system and how it was communicating with the shuttle. So it was a data handling system responsibility.” Right from day one at NASA, Smith was mentored by Jeff Hanley, who became a Shuttle Flight Director and, later, Manager of the Constellation Program. Hanley explained to Smith how the shuttle communications system worked, and how the Hubble communications system worked. He also wrote the Hubble Cargo Systems Manual (HST-CSM). “This was a huge book”, Smith pointed out, “with all these diagrams, that anyone who was operating the shuttle and Hubble during the joint flights used.” Indeed, it became “the Hubble Bible”.
Smith’s experiences in working the operational side of STS-31 gave him a great respect for those who designed and built the spacecraft, which is the majority of the work effort, with the astronauts just the “tip of the spear, we just implement what they tell us to do”. In some of his post-flight motivational speeches to these workers, Smith explained that he was one of the few people to have worked on both sides of the equation, the support side and the flight side. “I can tell you,” he would say, “that the support side job was a lot harder than my job as an astronaut.” He pointed out that astronauts could be heard counting out loud while performing many EVA tasks. That was because they had been instructed pre-flight to turn a bolt eight times and they’d count, one… two… three, to the number of turns required for that particular bolt. “And that was the hardest part of my whole spacewalk, counting up to ten or to sixteen or whatever the longest bolt was. I didn’t design the bolt, I didn’t build the bolt, I didn’t procure the bolt, I was just given the bolt and was told to turn it sixteen times. So really that’s a really good example of how—in my view anyway—the astronaut job is really easy compared to what everybody did together.” But sometimes things didn’t
work out as planned, and this became a useful reference in a post-flight debrief. As Smith noted, when a problem occurred, it had to be dealt with there and then. “We have all kinds of things that don’t go exactly as they’re supposed to do, so you say, ‘Hey, I only got four turns on that bolt, is that good enough?’ Sometimes it is, but sometimes it isn’t.”
It’s all the genes!
Smith became an astronaut in 1992 and after his first space flight on STS-68 in 1994, where he had trained for a contingency EVA, he had hoped to be assigned an actual EVA on his second flight, hopefully to Hubble because the space station was still several years away. “My dream was to do a spacewalk. In those days, spacewalks were extremely rare, but I was hopeful. Bob Cabana called me and told me [of the STS-82 assignment] and of course I was thrilled.”
Teamed with another EVA rookie, Joe Tanner, the pair went to Mark Lee, then Chief of the EVA office and himself on STS-82 as the Payload Commander, to thank him for his influence and help in getting them assigned, presumably Smith had thought due to good training reports. However, Lee informed them that one of the reasons for their selection was because they were tall, so they ought not to get too excited about the assignment. It was just that there were some tasks at Hubble that required someone with long arms. “So Mark really damped my enthusiasm, my pride. I thought okay, now I need to call my parents and thank them for me being tall.” The secret of how astronauts were selected for crews, at least for Smith and Tanner, was that it was all in the genes!
Joe Tanner and Steve Smith during the STS-82 TCDT at KSC, Florida.
Management experience
Following STS-31, Steve Hawley took a position of management at Ames Research Center in California, but he returned to JSC in 1992. “When I went out to Ames, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do long term. I wasn’t sure where my interests were,” he explained in his 2003 oral history.4 He was excited about the prospect of being involved in the management of science but wasn’t ready to leave the operational side of the program. He had thoughts of going to Kennedy Space Center, or to NASA Headquarters in Washington DC, but he decided that becoming the Deputy Director of Flight Crew Operations at JSC “would be kind of fun”. Management roles were not new to Hawley, who was Technical Assistant to the Director of the Flight Operations Directorate during 1984 and 1985 and Deputy Chief of the Astronaut Office between 1987 and 1990. Although reluctant to leave Ames, he was pleased to be returning to operations.
His term as Deputy of FOD had included the preparatory phase for STS-61, the first Hubble service mission. He attended a lot of meetings and saw how all the parts of the mission came together. He fully appreciated what was at stake. “Normally the Director represents Flight Crew Operations at the launch site and is in the control center for launch. For whatever reason, maybe just because I was familiar with Hubble, he didn’t go at that time and I got to go.” Hawley feels it was a privilege to have been involved in such a personal manner with both the launch of the telescope, as part of that crew, and the first service mission. That pride and sense of personal involvement in operations and decisionmaking was, at times, balanced by the reality of his new role. He recalled one trip to LCC on a different mission where the launch had been scheduled for 3 am and he’d been up all day. It was possibly the second or third attempt to get the vehicle off. “I do remember for an instant sitting there thinking ‘Jeez, I’m tired.’” But in the next instant he realized, “Of all the people in the country or the world, there’s about ten or fifteen of us that are allowed to sit in this room at this time and do this thing, and suddenly the fact that it was three in the morning and I’d been up all day didn’t seem very important, I was privileged to get to be a part of this.”
Hawley had not expected to fly again, but one day he was in the office of Dave Leestma, the Director of Flight Crew Operations and was asked whether he wanted to fly as arm operator on the next Hubble mission. He had not planned it that way, and it was not something that he was actively seeking, but by returning to JSC he knew there would be the chance of flying again if the circumstances were right and others thought he was good enough to be the right person for the job. Hawley said he would like to do the mission, but should consult his wife. The next day he signed up for the flight. During his time on the crew, Hawley’s management position would be filled by several acting deputies.
Training
The numbering of Mission Specialists was determined by the seating arrangements for ascent. Clearly Steve Hawley was the right choice for the MS2/FE role because, as Joe Tanner says, it was sensible not to use an EVA person in that role. “Then we said, ‘Okay, who wants to ride on the flight deck going up?’ So I said, ‘Well I wouldn’t mind doing that.’ Mark and Greg were on their fourth flight each and didn’t really care. So I said I’d
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Title: Don Sebastian or, The house of the Braganza: An historical romance. vol. 4
Author: Anna Maria Porter
Release date: December 6, 2023 [eBook #72343]
Language: English
Original publication: London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, 1809
Credits: Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from images made available by the HathiTrust Digital Library.) *** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DON SEBASTIAN ***
DON SEBASTIAN;
OR, THE HOUSE OF BRAGANZA.
J. M‘CREERY, Printer, Black-Horse-Court, Fleet-Street, London.
DON SEBASTIAN; OR,
THE HOUSE OF BRAGANZA.
AN HISTORICAL ROMANCE. IN FOUR VOLUMES.
BY MISS ANNA MARIA PORTER.
AUTHOR OF THE HUNGARIAN BROTHERS.
Take Physic, Pomp!
Expose thyself to feel what wretches feel, So shalt thou shake the superflux to them, And shew the Heavens more just.
K L .
VOL. IV.
LONDON:
PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, HURST, REES, AND ORME, PATERNOSTER ROW. 1809.
CHAP. I., CHAP. II., CHAP. III., CHAP. IV., CHAP. V., CHAP. VI., CHAP. VII., THE CONCLUSION.
DON SEBASTIAN; OR, THE HOUSE OF BRAGANZA.
CHAP. I.
A serious reflection Sebastian came to the determination of sacrificing his domestic comforts to the ultimate good of his people and his child: the conflict was over with himself, but how was he to conquer the heart of Kara Aziek? of that tender mother, who “chid the winds of Heaven,” if they blew too roughly on the face of her darling?—that tender mother and faithful wife, who saw so much of virtue and happiness around her dwelling at Cachoeira, that she knew not where the world could shew a station more productive of either.
Dreading the excess of her grief, yet arming himself to encounter it, Sebastian quitted his solitude, and went forth to seek her.
He found her with Blanche, just returning from their village church, where they had been witnessing the marriage of an Indian girl with one of the most enlightened and amiable of her tribe. The happy scene from which they were come, had lighted up the countenances of each: Blanche was yet too young for complete sympathy with the blushing Izamba, but her heart sympathized with happiness of any sort; and the tear of benevolent pleasure which stood on the cheek of her mother, called a shower over hers.
Gently walking under a long line of cedars shading the Cachoeira, Sebastian descried them afar off.—The full and perfectly-formed figure of Kara Aziek, her slow soft step, the gentle dignity which distinguished her, were contrasted by the slight and budding graces of Blanche’s more airy form. Her step was quick, bounding, and uncertain as the young Gazelle’s; her looks were timid, not majestic; and like spring preceding summer, she sportively advanced, admiring every object she had seen and admired a thousand times before.
Sebastian scarcely descried her ere she was at his side: by an irresistible impulse he took her in his arms, and holding her to his heart, suffered the tears he could no longer restrain, to fall over her face.
It was the first time that Blanche had ever felt her father’s tears; she looked up, and the bright roses of health and delight faded from her cheek.
“Be not alarmed, my child!” he whispered in a faltering voice, as he let her go again, “I will rejoin your mother soon—speak not to her of this weakness—I must explain it myself.”
Having spoken, he turned away, and hurrying towards a sugar-mill, which he entered, as if intent on business, left Blanche to wait for her mother, who seeing nothing extraordinary in this conduct of her husband, entered her own habitation.
It was long ere Sebastian sufficiently recovered himself to join Kara Aziek; the smile with which he dressed his pale countenance could not conceal from her the unusual agitation of his heart: she fearfully inquired its cause, and was answered by a cautious explanation of De Castro’s situation and engagements.
Kara Aziek listened to him in profound silence, which she did not break till some moments after he had concluded; she then turned on him her expressive eyes; no tears were there, but they were full of that maternal anguish she felt called upon to control.
She looked tenderly at him, as if she believed him unable to avert the calamity with which she was threatened, and as if she considered him equally with herself, an object of compassion. “I submit:” she said at length, turning her eyes from her husband and fixing them on Heaven; “There are periods in which I dare not yield to my feelings. That God who has blessed us with our Blanche, calls her now to become an instrument for her father’s restoration: I may not detain her.”—
At the last words, Kara Aziek closed her eyes as if she would have shut from her husband’s sight the anguish of her soul: a general trembling seized her, and unable to relieve herself by tears, she made an effort to smile, and pressing his hand, leaned her face upon his shoulder.
Sebastian gently supported her. This unresisting acquiescence, this uncomplaining grief, affected him far more than the most violent despair: in proportion as his Aziek appeared more worthy of happiness, her different destiny seemed more cruel.
“Dearest and best of women!” he exclaimed, “is it to day that I am to receive the strongest proof of that love which has been the angel of my life? —You know my heart, and you spare me the misery of contending with tenderness for you, and duty to Portugal: you weep not, you complain not! —O my Aziek, am I then indeed, dearer to thee than the child to whom thou
gavest birth?—I expected lamentation, remonstrance, shall I confess it?— sorrowful reproaches—I find gentleness and heroism; I find that I am still the first in that precious heart.”—
Transported out of himself by such a conviction, Sebastian folded his arms around his wife, whose countenance suddenly glowing with vivid emotion, was now bathed in tears. Instantaneously melted by this burst of affection, she wept profusely, but her tears had no bitterness in them; she forgot at that moment the impending evil she had been contemplating.
By degrees this rapture subsided, and the separation from her daughter returned in all its force. “I will try to merit these kind praises:” she said faintly, “but my heart may not always have such strength: pardon me therefore Sebastian, if some moments of weakness should make me the selfish creature you feared to find me. Remember that in this discourse I have spoken my real sentiments, and do not attend to the temporary ravings of a mother, who cannot always hear the voices of Reason and Religion; who cannot always obey their commands. In my soul I am convinced we ought to make this sacrifice; as such, it shall be completed.”
Again the tears of Kara Aziek ceased to flow, and her features resumed their former paleness. Sebastian still looked at her with a mixture of anguish and delight. His affection was eloquent, and repeated tributes to the fortitude he admired, contributed to support and to console Kara Aziek.
One important matter yet remained to be discussed; should they or should they not suffer Blanche to depart without knowing the story of her birth?
Many arguments in favor of each line of conduct presented themselves during this interesting discussion; but those had the most weight, which dictated explanation.
Blanche was of an age and a character to feel the value of such a confidence: the knowledge of her parents misfortunes would surely endear them to her heart; and when widely separated, that anxiety which must result from her acquaintance with their critical situation, would form still a link of union. Their thoughts, their wishes, their solicitudes, would yet remain the same, though their persons might be divided; it would be impossible for Blanche not to remember and to love her parents, when her dearest interests were inseparably interwoven with their images.
In addition to this consideration, Sebastian urged one equally important: Blanche would sooner attain the qualities requisite for her future guidance through life, by this early call upon them. Discretion, courage, attentive observation of persons and events, careful calculation of actions, and their consequences, would be the natural fruit of thus giving her a necessity for all these properties.
With the prospect of one day filling a station of responsibility, seeing in the example of her father the awful vicissitudes to which even monarchy is exposed, and feeling, in her own person, the dependance of man on man, she would avoid the risk of becoming intoxicated with a distinction which presented itself under a shape so forbidding.
Her imagination, chastized by experience, and her heart disciplined by early care, would mature, fix, and ennoble her character: if Providence should call her to a throne, that education would enable her to fill it with honour; if destined to pass her life in obscurity, the memory of her parents lot, would teach her the emptiness of the world, and the rarer treasures of that benevolence which makes joy to itself in every station.
If blind to the advantages of candour, Sebastian should permit Blanche to depart in ignorance of her real condition, he reflected, that she must go with either a sentiment of curiosity about the concealed motives of her parents, or with a sentiment of disappointment at their seemingly-lukewarm affection: continual deception must be practised on her; and bearing away with her no quickening principle of anxiety, her filial love would soon languish.
The remembrance of her happy home, would, from its very happiness, only serve to excuse her to herself for ceasing to feel an animated interest in its inhabitants; and delivering up her young mind to the charms and novelties of a gay life, she would perhaps lose much of her goodness and all her simplicity.
These reflections decided Sebastian, for Kara Aziek had decided at first, from the mere impulse of feeling.
Having left his Aziek seeking additional strength at that sacred source whence human virtue is derived, he sought Gaspar, and imparted to him the resolution to which he had brought himself: Gaspar’s emotion was purely joyful; he neither dreaded dangers nor difficulties, oceans, nor dungeons, when the prospect of being useful to his King lay before him.
His sanguine nature made him certain that he should not be long separated from Sebastian: the destruction of Spanish tyranny, and the restoration of Portugal, were events that he concluded must follow the interference of England; he was but leading his sweet young mistress to a triumph, not to a struggle; he was but going to make the path broad and open which led back to the throne of her ancestors.
“We part, Sire! it is true;” he said, “yet what is our parting?—we shall meet again, and meet in happiness. I feel that Providence has now set a period to your trials: this is the epoch destined for the recovery of your former possessions.—We shall reach England—England will raise her powerful arm, and as if by magic, the whole mass of foreign tyranny will crumble to dust. My honoured young mistress will then be given to the Portuguese as a pledge that their beloved sovereign yet lives, and will condescend to reign over them: you will arrive, Sire, to find in your own kingdom, power, adoration, and happiness!”
“Not adoration Gaspar,” said Sebastian, smiling kindly, “not adoration, that is an impious tribute to kings, which, thank God, I never required, nay, which I abhorred, even in my proudest day.—If I may regain the love of my people, by convincing them that a parental tenderness for them glows in this time-tried heart, I shall indeed rejoice that the meridian hours of my life are not to pass away at Cachoeira. Marvellous destiny! (he added after a thoughtful pause) shall I ever again find myself the ruler of a mighty nation —the arbiter of their fates—the earthly God to punish and to reward?— When I look back to the period in which I was this powerful creature, it seems to me a long-past dream; suffering and seclusion, the only realities!”
“Not so, Sire!” gravely observed Gaspar, “you are a sovereign and a God at Cachoeira; you are the happiest of husbands and of fathers,—and do you say that there are no realities but suffering and seclusion?”
Sebastian fixed his eyes on him, with a look of generous approval, “Ever, my friend!” he exclaimed; “ever watchful over my character as much as my interest! I spoke, Gaspar, in a way too familiar with me: I spoke from the impression of one recollection only; I remembered therefore my losses, and forgot my possessions. Be satisfied, my soul is fully sensible of the rare blessings I enjoy. Had I not lost my liberty and crown, I should never have been the happy father and husband, never have opened my eyes on the light
of pure Christianity: this thought makes me consider my misfortunes as benefits.”
Gaspar expressed his satisfaction at so ingenuous a confession of error, and proceeded to name the time and preparations that would be required, ere he could commence his voyage.
He knew that merchant-ships were then in the bay of St. Salvador, bound for St. Lucar: in one of these, it was agreed he should procure a passage for himself and his young charge, with whom he might easily proceed from St. Lucar to Messina.
Nothing was more common than for the children of Brazilian settlers to be sent to Europe for their education or health, and one of these motives would certainly be attributed to Blanche’s separation from her parents, should any persons think such an event of sufficient consequence to employ their thoughts.
Charged with securing the cabin of the merchant-ship, and with providing all things requisite for a tedious voyage, Gaspar hastened to St. Salvador, leaving sadness in that house, which until now, never knew more than the shadow of passing clouds.
The interview with his daughter was a trying hour to Sebastian: Kara Aziek declined being present: her heart dreaded itself; and the nearer drew the moment in which she was to make the sacrifice demanded, the more her fears and her agitation increased.
“If I should fail at last!” she constantly repeated to herself, while striving to strengthen her resolution by the recollection of Sebastian’s commendations; “if I should disappoint his trust in my promise of submission! ah God! pity me, succour me, support my feeble spirit, and give me that added confidence in thy mercy, that added tenderness for his feelings, which may successfully wrestle against the despair of a mother.”
Impressed with a sense of her own weakness, Kara Aziek fled from every scene which could enervate her still further, courageous from that very tenderness of character, with which her courage had to struggle, she refused to herself the luxury of indulging her grief, and of participating in that affecting interview which must increase it.
While she surrounded herself by various occupations, forcibly wresting her mind towards the interest of others, Sebastian was unfolding to their daughter the wonderful story of his youth.
Her amazement and sympathy may be imagined; they were in proportion to the sensibility of her character: but Sebastian looked beyond these, and as he slowly related the events of his life, and pointed out the lessons to be learned from them, he watched their effect on her who might hereafter need such beacons to guide her in the same course.
A serious joy warmed his heart, when he beheld the impression made by the knowledge of her birth: looks of trouble and apprehension were instantly diffused over her features: she was not ambitious therefore: to inspire her with zeal for her own rights, it would be requisite to teach her the benevolent purposes to which they might be directed.
No parts of her father’s narrative so absorbed the attention of Blanche, as those which related to her mother. While Sebastian detailed the variety of Kara Aziek’s destiny, and the transitions from pain to pleasure which they had had mutually endured, the eyes of Blanche alternately shone with the brightness of joy, or fell to the ground blinded with tears. It was evident, that from the moment Kara Aziek appeared upon the scene, her affectionate child saw in her love the best blessing of life, and ceasing to think of her father’s loftier anxieties, was solely interested in reaching the moment which gave her parents to each other.
Once, and only once, did her agitated heart burst through the restraint which delicate timidity, and filial respect had imposed: it was at the description of Sebastian’s return to Portugal, at the reception of Donna Gonsalva, and the conversation of the two noblemen at the house of Lopez Vernara.
Powerfully moved by these incidents, she suddenly threw herself on the bosom of her father, exclaiming, in a voice broken by sobs, “Ah send me not to such a dreadful world! let me not live with people who have thus outraged my dearest father!”
Much affected by a sensibility as just as it was exquisite, Sebastian strained her to his breast, and lifting up the scattered ringlets from her cheek, he kissed it fondly. That roseate cheek, those eyes now closed with grief, but lovely still from the long lashes which fringed them, the soft arms that twined around his neck, and the beautiful tresses which fell dishevelled over them, all these were so like his Aziek’s, that he repeated his caresses, and abandoned to a moment of weakness, whispered, “Should I not risk all things to go with my child?”
At this unexpected dawn of hope, Blanche raised her face, the sunshine of happy youth was on it. “O my father;” she cried, “let us go together!— my mother, my dear mother too—we cannot live without her.”
Sebastian had now recovered himself, and sorrowing to destroy the illusion his own words had raised, he proceeded in a calmer tone, to explain to her the weighty reasons which rendered it necessary for him to trust the judgment of De Castro, and to act by his suggestion: he alone could decide on the prudence of measures, which must be influenced by the conduct of those potentates amongst whom he was acting.
Blanche had been early taught to yield to the voice of reason: the moment she was convinced that what she wished was hostile to her better interests, or blameable in itself, she ceased to form a wish on the subject. She submitted to the commands of duty, as to the irreversible decrees of Heaven.
This valuable habit of moral obedience, now enabled her to acquiesce in the dreary prospect of separating from her parents, and committing herself to a world, of which the history had made her afraid. She wept bitterly; but she frequently repeated, that she saw her father could not in justice to himself and his country, and in gratitude to those friends who were now risking their lives for his sake by secret correspondence with the enemies of Philip, do otherwise than grant them some rallying point like herself.
Sebastian contemplated her as she sat struggling against her grief, kissing his hands and looking at him with humid smiles: Sebastian contemplated her with many an admiring thought. He contrasted her character and conduct with what his own had been at a much more forward period of youth: at that period the whole globe was scarce large enough for his tempestuous passions to rage in. Shame and compunction were on his brow. “Blanche,” he exclaimed, “if the certainty that you possess the fullest love, the most perfect approbation of your father, can give comfort to your heart, be assured that you do possess them—never my child, never were you half so dear or so estimable to me, as at this moment.”
Blanche started from her seat, and threw herself before him; Sebastian bent towards her, and holding her against his breast in the lovely attitude in which she had placed herself, he resumed his discourse. “Cultivate this selfgovernment which ennobles you thus in a parent’s eyes!—O my daughter, self-government is dignity, is happiness, is dominion!—’tis the secret of
disarming adversity of its sting—’tis the virtue which comprehends all others—’tis that which will entitle you to a crown in Heaven!—Had I been like thee, my child, at this instant I should have nothing to reproach myself with; I should have been dwelling in the house of my fathers, and I should not have had to send my innocent Blanche into a faithless world in search of that possession which my folly threw away.”
He stopt, and several deep sighs followed his words. Blanche kissed his hand with repressed ardour; her timid voice trembled as she spoke. “You have profited by your chastisements, dearest father, or how should I have become the character you praise?—ah me! shall I always remain so? your virtues have sprung up out of your trials; and mine perhaps may die under them.”
Struck with the justice of this observation, and charmed with the salutary humility which it proved, her gratified father pursued the theme she had begun, and discoursing on principles and passions, on trials and temptations, forgot the lapse of time.
Kara Aziek’s voice near the windows of the apartment in which they sat, roused him to recollection, and taking Blanche by the hand, he went forth to join her mother.
By the same impulse, Kara Aziek and her daughter pressed each other in their arms without speaking; Sebastian approached, and drew them towards him! he too was silent: after some moments of extreme emotion, they recovered themselves, and rose from this sad embrace. The faces of Kara Aziek and Blanche were bathed in tears, that of Sebastian was pale, but more composed.
As if by tacit agreement, no one ventured to speak of the only subject that engrossed their thoughts: their conversation was serious, and interrupted by long pauses, but it was evidently connected with their most interesting reflections.
Not till she was alone with her daughter, a few days previous to her departure, had Kara Aziek courage to name the trial they were about to encounter: at this instant fortitude forsook her, and the weeping Blanche beheld for the first time, her gentle and hitherto patient mother, given up to an agony of despair.
Periods like these, are not those in which human comfortings avail: the soul must seek and find its comforter in itself. It must be habituated to
believe that all the decrees of Heaven are wise and good; then will sorrow gradually subside, and a consolation past utterance will succeed to distraction.
Experience had taught this most precious lesson to Kara Aziek; for often had she had occasion to feel in her own person, and through that of her husband, that
“We, ignorant of ourselves, Beg often our own harms, which the wise powers Deny us for our good: so find we profit By losing of our prayers.”
The silent caresses and touching tears of her daughter, contributed to console, rather than to afflict her: so sweet, so amiable, so excellent a creature, was she not destined to ornament and to bless mankind?—The heart of a fond mother answered in the affirmative; and like the sick person who courageously bears the crisis of a disorder when the paroxysm is expected to work his cure, she roused herself to support a parting which she hoped would lead to permanent re-union.
Though flattering herself that many months would not elapse ere the path should be open for Sebastian’s return to Portugal, she exhorted Blanche, as if their separation were to endure for years: her admonitions were few and impressive; she had nothing new to teach her daughter, but what she had been hitherto teaching her every day by example rather than precept, she now summed up, in easily-remembered maxims.
This discourse with her mother was never forgotten by Blanche.
Gaspar had provided the accommodations requisite for his young mistress; all their arrangements were completed, and the day was fixed for the sailing of the vessel which was to convey them to Europe. Sebastian confided to his friend a packet for Don Emanuel De Castro, signifying the extent to which he would engage himself with any foreign power willing to assist him: this packet contained also a letter to Queen Elizabeth, which Blanche was to deliver at their first meeting.
Sebastian had written with the dignity of a King, and the tenderness of a father: by the warmth of his paternal expressions, he sought to make her sensible that she could not hope to injure or distress his child with impunity. He expressed himself strongly, yet with such courtly address, that although
Elizabeth must feel his meaning, and see his doubts, she could not openly reply to them.
The hour of separation drew near; the ship was to sail on the morrow.
Having resolved to let no other objects share her heart with her parents, at that moment in which she alone would occupy theirs, Blanche took leave of the Indians on the preceding evening: their uncontrolled lamentations affected her powerfully; and it was not till the night was far advanced, that she recovered from the mournful impression.
Day-break awoke her: when she first opened her eyes at the rustling of the breeze among the tall tops of a grove of Magnolias, when she saw their beautiful foliage, and heard the birds singing from their branches, she felt a sudden shock; for this was the last time in which she should see these trees, or feel this air!
She was going far away! she was going from her parents! at this conviction a death-like sickness oppressed her very heart; she sunk back on her pillow, and believing the effort impossible, resigned herself to an excess of despair. The tears which she shed in floods, gradually relieved her feelings, and left them more obedient to her will: she repeated to herself the injunctions and arguments of her parents, she strove to fix a short period for the continuance of their separation, and having recourse to devotion, was enabled to quit her chamber with a tolerably serene countenance.
It was yet early day; no one else was stirring, and Blanche rose thus soon, that she might take a parting look at the recent grave of Barémel.
This playmate and guardian of her infant days, had died of old age, and was buried by Sebastian himself under a cluster of Palmito’s in his garden. No stone, with indecent resemblance to the monument of departed man, marked the place where he laid; but a circle of plaited reeds enclosed the little mound, and Blanche often stole there, to cover the bed of her favorite with flowers.
She now moved lightly and timidly towards it, half-ashamed of a sensibility it was amiable to feel. O lovely season of youth! how sweet art thou to behold, with thy attendant graces of modesty, susceptibility, and self-distrust!
The colours of the blooming flowers through which she passed painted the soft complexion of Blanche; hers was the complexion that announced a
tender and intelligent heart, for it varied with every thought and every feeling; it was now flushed with strong emotion.
She approached Barémel’s grave, and was going to throw herself upon it with a violence of sorrow pardonable at her early age, when she was checked by the apprehension of its being criminal.—“Yet he was so loving, and faithful!” she exclaimed, tears trembling in her eyes, “I think it cannot be wrong to remember him with affection.” Her innocent heart decided in the affirmative, and sitting down near the grassy heap, she strewed it with blossoms, and gave loose to her tears.
Her mind was quickly thronged with long-past images: different epochs of holidays and festivals in which Barémel had constantly performed some amusing part; passed in review before her. She remembered his joyful bark, his supplicating whine, his watchful and loving looks, his unwearied attendance of her from infancy to youth, over all the romantic region that surrounded Cachoeira. “Poor Barémel! I can never see thee again!” she said, sighing: that apostrophe conveyed to her heart a salutary exhortation to take comfort on a far dearer subject.
She was indeed going to quit her parents, but not for ever; they were yet in the flower of their lives, and Providence therefore permitted her to anticipate their future re-union. Blanche was of a grateful disposition; she loved to be happy, and far from partaking in the nature of those wretchedly tempered spirits who seem to feast on discontent, and refuse to be comforted; she opened her soul to admit the smallest particle of consolation.
Her reflections now assumed a more serious cast, (for they were employed in enumerating the mercies she yet possessed, and those she might anticipate without presumption,) but they were no longer afflicting: anxious to seize this moment of resignation for appearing before her parents, she got up, and giving a long look of regret to the resting-place of her early companion, turned homeward.
Sebastian was advancing in search of her: “I have only been to look at poor Barémel’s grave,” she said blushing, “since you have told me all that I owe to him, his memory has become almost sacred to me, he saved my dear father’s life.”
Blanche added the last sentence with trepidation which shewed she was eager to give an honorable excuse for what might have been deemed a
weakness. Sebastian pressed her hand as he led her forward: “like thy mother in all things!” he observed, “ever diffident of thy best and most engaging actions!”
They proceeded in silence to the apartment of Kara Aziek: she had yet many things to say, or to repeat, and she was now gathering fortitude to pronounce them calmly. Blanche sat down between her parents: each held one of her hands, and frequently pressed it; but as yet, none of them spoke: their eyes were fixed on the ground.
Why is it that the dearest connexions, when about to lose sight of each other, avoid looking on the countenance they love, and which they will so soon long to behold again? is it that the soul instinctively prepares for its calamity, and tries to soften the pang by gradual abandonment of its enjoyments? or is it that grief would be uncontrollable if those delightful feelings were indulged which we are conscious must end with the removal of the person beloved?
Whatever be the motive, its effect was seen in the family at Cachoeira: they remained silent and immovable, drawing by stealth long and interrupted sighs. They were summoning resolution to speak of parting.
At this moment Gaspar hastily entered; every eye was raised towards him: “The ship sails an hour earlier than we expected, a messenger has just come from St. Salvador to say so, we have not an instant to lose.”
Kara Aziek uttered a loud shriek, and clasped her daughter in her arms; they had started up at Gaspar’s first words, and now remained clinging to each other. Tears, sobs, broken exclamations, embraces repeated again and again, were the witnesses of their sorrow.
Gaspar called on them to remember the fatal consequence of delay: almost subdued himself, he yet had courage to appear barbarous, that he might shorten the pangs of others.
Blanche heard him not: she flung herself alternately from the arms of one parent to those of the other, and as she deluged their bosoms with her tears, she called on them to assure her that their separation should not be eternal.
Cold damps stood on the brow of Sebastian, for the pains of death were in his heart, but his eyes were tearless. Kara Aziek was like one frantic; her softness had given place to a wild and resisting despair: she clung to her child, and no remonstrances had power to loosen her grasp!
Sebastian trembled for her reason, and that fear gave him strength to accomplish what he knew to be indispensible. He advanced towards his wife, forcibly, yet tenderly, unlocked her hands as they met round the waist of Blanche, and hastily pushing his daughter towards Gaspar, exclaimed, “Go, go my child! if you would not kill your mother. I have, I have blessed you—I bless you again.”
Gaspar had seized the arm of Blanche, while his agitated master was trying to detain Kara Aziek; he now led the former towards the door, and lifting her up, ran with her from the house to the caloche which was to carry them to St. Salvador.
On reaching the carriage, he found that she had fainted; less alarmed at this natural effect of sorrow, than he would have been grieved by her lamentations, he got into the vehicle, and supporting her against his shoulder, proceeded to bathe her temples with a pungent essence he usually wore about him.
His exertion succeeded, Blanche revived: she looked round, and seeing herself on the road, she knew that all hope of present change was desperate: her eyes closed again, but it was only to weep with less obviousness, and to preserve their last look of her parents.
