One of the proudest moments in my life was when I was accepted into the U.S. Air Force Astronaut Program, the first person to achieve this honor since I had been in the Army and not the Air Force. However, as fate would have it, I failed the Altitude Test, when I fell off the stool they had me stand on. I appealed the decision on up through the chain of command, stating that the fall was the result of gravity, and that the pull of gravity is non-existent up in space. But it was not to be...