 Why doesn't Martha want the general to bring Terry home?
"Is Terry really way up there all alone, Martha?" "Aren't you scared , Martha?" What could she say when the suave young man came up to her and said, "We want you to know that we're all very proud of your boy up there, ma'am, and we hope you'll do us the honor of answering a few questions." But whenever she opened her mouth to mention, say, how he used to study till all hours of the night, or how difficult it had been for him to make friends because of his shyness, or the fact that he had never gone out for football—whenever she started to mention any of these things, the suave young man was in great haste to interrupt her and to twist her words, by requestioning, into a different meaning altogether, till Terry's behavior pattern seemed to coincide with the behavior pattern which the suave young man apparently considered the norm, but which, if followed, Martha was sure, would produce not young men bent on exploring space but young men bent on exploring trivia. A few of the questions concerned herself: Was Terry her only child?
 Martha feels Terry would want to spend eternity amongst the stars.
 Martha does not want to be blamed for spending taxpayers' money on an expensive search and rescue operation.  Martha feels Terry would want to spend eternity amongst the stars.  Martha does not want the media circus to continue.  Martha knows the same kind of accident or worse could happen to the search and rescue team.