 What is most ironic about the conclusion of the story?
Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Astounding Science Fiction December 1955. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed. Yes, I'm sure you did," she said, finishing the ritual; but her voice broke, and she turned her head away. We know exactly how it will be. If anything could go wrong, they wouldn't be sending me; you know that. "Mary, you know I can't back out now. Nothing would ever be right with me again if I didn't go. I won't be here because I won't be the wife of a space pilot for the rest of my life. "I wish you had told me this a long time ago, Mary," Phil said. "Yes, you did. I told you I could never be the wife of a space pilot. But I don't think I ever really believed it was possible—not until this morning when you said tonight was the take-off. "It isn't a dream. It's real. There's nothing means anything more to me than you do—you know that. But no man ever had the chance to do what I'm going to do tonight—no man ever. If I backed out now for any reason, I'd never be able to look at the sky again. They drove through the streets of the small town with its small bungalows, each alike. It was a new town, a government built town, and it had no personality yet. It existed only because of the huge ship standing poised in the take-off zone five miles away in the desert. Its future as a town rested with the ship, and the town seemed to feel the uncertainty of its future, seemed ready to stop existing as a town and to give itself back to the desert, if such was its destiny. Phil turned the car off the highway onto the rutted dirt road that led across the sand to the field where the ship waited. In the distance they could see the beams of the searchlights as they played across the take-off zone and swept along the top of the high wire fence stretching out of sight to right and left. He read Phil's pass, shined his flashlight in their faces, and then saluted. They drove between the rows of wooden buildings that lined the field, and he parked near the low barbed fence ringing the take-off zone.
 Mary's fear of losing Phil became a self-fulfilling prophecy
 While Sammy is the least qualified to go into space, he was the only replacement for Phil  Everything that used to give Phil joy will now represent pain and suffering  Mary's fear of losing Phil became a self-fulfilling prophecy  Phil trained all of his life for one moment, and gave it all up within the period of one day