The spate of good news seems unending. I’ve been keeping part of this under my hat because I was afraid of jinxing it, but just got word that it’s official.

Many of you are familiar with Launch Pad, the workshop funded by NASA to introduce writers to the wonders of actual astronomy. While reading about Launch Pad, I wandered over to NASA and discovered their art program. Considering that the artist-in-residence program includes such luminaries as Laurie Anderson, I figured my chances were slim, but what the heck. It was just paperwork.

Remember back in July when I mentioned good news that I couldn’t talk about? That was when I got word that I had moved to the finalist round.

Now I can let you know, officially, NASA has selected me! It seems that my combination careers of puppetry and writing tipped the balance in my favor. When you combine that with my college days on the sky-diving team, I guess I came up with the right set of skills to be the next artist-in-residence on the International Space Station!

I’ll be heading to Florida this summer to begin training. It will mean a three month separation from Rob, but good heavens — literally, heavens — I’ll be in SPACE! With astronauts! I can hardly believe it. The details are all here, if you are interested in the training regime.

Edited to add: Since it is no longer April Fool’s Day, it only seems fair to tell you that this was a prank.