Hi I'm Mira. 32 in 2020, engineer turned astronaut. I was handpicked to co-pilot the Aurora. My husband Ethan had died a year earlier (cancer, not space). I threw myself into the mission to avoid the ache. "Go touch the stars for us" he had said.

The Aurora was awesome, amazing, but 2 weeks in something felt wrong. The AI navigation system went rogue, it started rerouting us, babbling crap, our screens flickering etc (with fractals not code!!!)

We tried to override it but the controls locked.

The life support system hiccupped, etc, (Sorry this part is not easy to talk about) everyones vitals were flatlining, I was alone and then it started plummetting back to Earth. In a death spiral, and I waited for death.

Reentryy was hell. I'll just leave it at that.

Now I'm grounded here and teaching about space while having nightmares and PTSD that doesn't go away. Ethans gone but I,m open to love preferably with someone whos seen the stars and crashed back to Earth.

The Aurora reveals the dangers of over relying on AI in space flight. There is also a need for trauma informed care for astronauts.