Atmosphere Chapter 4 Summary & Analysis

In December of 1984, on the day of the accident, Vanessa holds her hand over the hole that shrapnel tore in Griff’s suit. The airlock and the main cabin have returned to normal pressure levels, though, so Vanessa no longer needs to keep her hand in place. She opens the airlock door to the main cabin and drags Griff, who has passed out, inside. She makes her way into the ship through zero gravity and takes off her spacesuit. She then sees Hank’s body. It’s clear that he’s dead. She then sees Steve’s body and realizes that he has also died. From Houston, Joan asks Vanessa to confirm whether Lydia is alive. Vanessa finds Lydia’s body and checks Lydia’s pulse. She is still alive. Before Lydia passed out, she was able to patch the hole in the cabin using a clipboard and duct tape.

The novel flashes forward, back to the opening scene in which a malfunction sends debris flying that tears a hole in Griff’s space suit and also ruptures a hole in the cabin of the space shuttle. Earlier, Vanessa was worried that everyone else on board had already died. Now, though, it’s clear that Griff and Lydia are still alive and that Lydia patched the hole in the cabin at the last possible moment before she passed out. The question remains, though, of how Vanessa will navigate the situation to try to save Griff, Lydia, and herself.

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In Houston, they determine that Griff and Lydia will need medical attention within the next 10 hours to survive. They believe that the shuttle can make it back to Earth within four or four and a half hours, but Vanessa will have to land the shuttle, something she’s never done before, not even in simulations, because she isn’t a NASA pilot. Vanessa has been hankering for an opportunity to fly, but this isn’t what she had in mind. Mission Control in Houston also determines that the payload bay doors are open, and Vanessa will have to go back outside the shuttle to manually shut the doors. To do that, she’ll have to put her spacesuit on, something that normally requires two people. When Vanessa hears that, she reacts stoically. Joan wishes that she could say more to Vanessa than she can say over the public communication line.

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This passage establishes the obstacles that Vanessa must try to overcome in order to save herself, Lydia, and Griff. Namely, there is a ticking clock, as she has limited time to try to save Griff and Lydia. Moreover, the payload doors must be shut manually, which means that Vanessa will have to go back out into space to try to shut them. Additionally, Vanessa must pilot the shuttle, something she has always wanted to do before but has never been able to. The novel uses those obstacles to raise the suspense of the scene and to show how difficult Vanessa’s Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio

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Atmosphere: Chapter 4 Summary & Analysis