Mary Morgan Smith-2nd Period

Not only are the people in Texas effected by Harvey, but also the hurricane which are hovering 200 hundred miles above Earth. Two American astronauts, Fisher and Whitson, had to watch their homes be destroyed and their families be left with nothing from space. In addition to their devastation, they also had to wonder about the condition of the Johnson Space Center, located in Houston, until they regained power. Once they regained power, thirteen staff members never left the Space Center, day in and day out, in efforts to get Americans home safe and keep the space station flying. The last update given, on Fisher and Whitson, is that on Saturday, September 2nd they departed the space station in a capsule and touched down in Germany. Now they are waiting for temporary repairs to be made to the private NASA airport in order to arrive back in Texas and comfort their families and grieve their losses. 

In our current studies of the sixteenth century (chapters three and four), one of the main focuses is American life and how culture effects community. New England towns primarily consisted of tightly knit families, which in terms leads to tightly knit community. This same type of close relationship - family and community - is reflected in Houston’s residents grieving their losses together and rebuilding their city as a united group instead of individuals. In recent history, twelve years ago, Texas’s neighbor Louisiana faced a similar situation when Katrina destroyed New Orleans and surrounding Parishes.  Although Katrina’s death toll was much higher than Harvey’s, the devastating effect were the same.  People lost their homes, belongings, neighborhoods and some cases love ones.  However, both hurricane brought a nation divided by political beliefs, race, religion and social status together in which everyone works together and helps family, neighbors, friends and most often strangers.

http://money.cnn.com/2017/09/02/technology/hurricane-harvey-johnson-space-center-houston/index.html

Date Article was Published: Saturday, September 2, 2017 @ 10:10PM ET