Shuttle Commander's Husband Confident of Safe Return

Aug. 5, 2005 — -- There will be a lot of anxious people watching as the space shuttle Discovery returns to Earth before dawn on Monday. But Pat Youngs, the husband of mission Commander Eileen Collins, said he has faith the shuttle will come home safely.

"As a pilot myself, I think I'm pretty calm," Youngs, a former Air Force pilot who now flies for Delta Air Lines, told "Good Morning America" Weekend. "Obviously, there'll be some apprehension, however, I think they've worked all the issues extremely well, and I'm confident the orbiter's in great shape to bring it home for a nice landing."

On Thursday, NASA decided that the Discovery crew would not need to make a fourth spacewalk to fix a torn thermal blanket near a cockpit window.

There is a remote chance, though, that a piece of the blanket will rip off during re-entry and damage the spacecraft. Columbia launched in January 2003 and disintegrated on re-entry, because a piece of foam had damaged the craft's wing during the launch. The seven astronauts on board Columbia were killed in the disaster.

Youngs said that during their communications, his wife has not expressed any concerns about Discovery returning safely.

"The only thing she's been telling me is she's extremely happy with the mission itself and all they've accomplished. And she's very comfortable with the status of the orbiter," Youngs said.

On Friday, the crew picked up trash from the International Space Station, and earlier in the mission, they identified environmental damage visible on Earth below. In a conversation from space with Japanese officials, Collins said the Earth's atmosphere looked as thin as an "eggshell" and warned that greater care was needed to protect natural resources.

Collins told The Associated Press that she's been sending messages to her two children, ages 9 and 4, telling them "that I love them and that I miss them and not to worry about us."

Youngs said the family will be happy to be back together, but they haven't made any elaborate plans to celebrate yet.

"Just I know Eileen is dying for some Mexican food. I'm sure we'll be hitting that soon," Youngs said.