Star Power

Creative Nonfiction by Jack Scaife-Elliott

Each day, Noel awoke to silence that seemed to stretch endlessly. The specialized confinement training chamber trapped not only his body, but his mind in a timeless void. Minutes had become hours, then at some point hours seamlessly transitioned into days, and his mind began blurring the line between sleep and consciousness. For the past three days all Noel had known was darkness and silence, AND the forced sleep deprivation he had to endure only served to heighten his mind’s distortion of time. He was halfway through the test, and he didn’t even know it.

Then, after what felt like an eternity, the lights suddenly flickered to life. What Noel thought had been months turned out to be merely two of the ten days slated for his confinement. The pristine white walls, initially blinding, soon became the backdrop for the vivid mental imagery of movie scenes that Noel had committed to memory during his preparation for NASA’s special confinement isolation test. His mind functioned like an organic film projector, replaying scenes from films like Top Gun and Apollo 13 to while away the hours.

Noel embarked on this confinement isolation test alongside 2000 other potential NASA Astronaut Candidates and emerged as one of fifteen selected to carry forward the legacy of human exploration, destined to sow the seeds of their stories amongst the stars.

Noel waited impatiently to show his grandfather the newest Rocketship he had just finished drawing. Its light blue Crayola outline glistened in Noels’ eyes as its engines burst bright orange frames. For a moment Noel thought it might fly right off the paper, the imagination of his six-year-old brain acting as rocket fuel for his voyage to the stars. Noel looked around; years of artistic encouragement from his grandfather had turned the walls of his grandparents’ house into an art gallery of planes and rockets. Some were red, some blue, but the thing that connected every drawing was the sky.

Be it a plane on a journey to another country or a rocketship traveling deep into interstellar space, Noel’s mind was always interested in the sky and the lands that lay beyond it. And so, Noel waited to show his grandfather his newest design, blissfully ignorant of the fact that he would one day pilot a rocketship to space himself.

For Noel, these visits to his grandparents encouraged his fascination and curiosity with aviation in two different ways. The flight to India was part of it, in his own words Noel says, “Through that experience of flying to go see them I discovered that passion.”

In addition to this, Noel’s Grandfather served as a huge inspiration for Noel growing up. Noel describes him as one of the most important people in his life. These first few flights and visits to his grandparents were the very beginning of Noel’s journey and are a core part of Noel’s childhood dream of flying; a dream perhaps universal amongst children, a dream we all shared,, but were told to let go of by our parents or teachers. Noel chose not to loosen his grip on this dream, but to grasp it even more firmly, and these flights to India could be seen as the key that unlocked his initial determination and passion for this dream.

Tightly squished between his parents and eagerly peeking over his father’s shoulder, Noels’ eyes filled with magic– the ground beneath them began to move behind them as the plane readied to take off. He was only six years old; it was his first plane ride and yet unlike most children Noel was not afraid, rather he was increasingly excited as the plane began to rapidly accelerate, the cabin bobbing up and down while Noel reached over and asked his father to hold him up to the window. Gently, Noels’ father hooked both his hands beneath Noels arms and lifted him to the window.

With the plane ascending higher into the sky, Noel’s sense of time slipped away from him, the puffy white clouds he now soared amongst acting as cushions for his soul as his mind filled with awe and wonder. After some time had passed, his father began to wonder when his son would want to come down, unbeknownst to the fact that his son had found a new spiritual home and that he would never truly leave it again.

Noel’s father always wanted him to become a doctor, so despite his early passion for planes and aerospace Noel initially studied pre med in college. After a few years, Noel realized that healthcare was not his passion and switched to a degree in Biotechnology right around the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The summer following his degree Noel completed 15 online certifications all about scientific and aeronautical fields. The decision to swap to Biotech and the completion of the online certifications are events that Noel described as completely life- changing, and in the months that followed he found himself closer to his dream than ever.

The soft summer breeze brushed gently against Noel’s face; his eyes glistened from the radiant orange of the sun as it beamed softly off the pearly white exterior of the Cessna 172 Skyhawk, the conditions couldn’t have been more perfect. Noel took a deep breath as he stepped into the cockpit of the plane, his co-pilot followed closely behind him as he began to take Noel over the preflight checks. With every word that left his co-pilot’s mouth, Noel’s body was filled with more and more anticipation as if he had become a hot air balloon pumped full of helium. This excitement reached its boiling point when the dry and staticky voice of the air traffic controller blared out over the intercom that they were cleared for takeoff.

His arms shook slightly as he placed his right hand on the throttle. The plane accelerated, moving forward further and further along the tarmac as the wind curled beneath its wings and gently lifted them into the sweet blue sky. As they rose, Noel looked out at the sky and his mind was taken back 20 years to the very moment his father had lifted him to the window and he’d seen the vast sky for the first time from a plane. The memory leaked into the deep blue heavens that he had now become one with, and he realized he was closer than ever to his childhood dream of soaring through the atmosphere.

According to NASA official Abigail Bowman NASA’s Astronaut program takes in 18,000 applicants once every four years. To be taken into the initial 8,000 intake applicants complete five separate exams over a few months. Each exam contains 500 questions, covering the fields of rocket propulsion, orbital mechanics, aerospace engineering, and astrophysics. After a series of physical and mental tests, the group is narrowed down to a final 15. These selected candidates are usually specialists in specific scientific fields and must hold at least 1000 hours of flight experience. Noel’s field of expertise is biotechnology, specifically medical technology. Biotechnology is a growing field that focuses on the development of technology related to science or medicine. The 2020 pandemic saw huge growth for the biotech industry, says Matt Chessum, Director of the securities finance team at S&P Global Market Intelligence. Noel contributes part of his success in being accepted to NASA’s program to the growth his industry underwent during the pandemic.

Leaving behind the immense silence of the barren confinement chamber he had grown so accustomed to, Noel stepped out of the hospital doors and began to remember what life on earth felt like. The symphony of car horns, the feeling of the gentle breeze brushing lightly against his skin, and the radiance of the sun filled the sky with its eternal warmth. His senses had been heightened in that room, and it felt as if all the microdetails of the universe not visible to the human eye had now been revealed to him.

Noel turned his phone back on and opened it to thousands of notifications. It rang like a fire alarm as he tried to keep up with all the messages he had received. As he strolled down the street, the scattered sounds of stranger’s conversations felt like puzzle pieces for him to collect, each one reminding him of what it is to be human. Noel felt one with the world like he finally knew his place in the universe and knew how he was going to get there.

Noel now stands on the precipice of his destiny. His dreams are within his grasp and one day he will be holding them in his own hands as he soars far above us, smiling back at earth and the loved ones who helped him on his way to the stars. From the tender encouragement of his grandfather, to the exhilarating rush of his first plane ride, Noel’s journey traces the arc of a dreamer’s ascent, fueled by passion and propelled by purpose. Now all that is left for him to do is to place one foot in front of the other as he begins to sow his seeds in the grand tapestry of the universe. Noel has found his place, a testament to the power of dreams and the boundless potential of the human spirit.

Jack Scaife-Elliott is currently a student at Berklee College of Music, hoping to major in music production and engineering. Jack met Noel in an Uber ride where he was his driver, Noel then shared his story which became the inspiration for this piece. Jack hopes that readers of this piece become inspired to pursue their dreams and realize that with enough determination and hope, anything is possible.