Interesting article from www.cnn.com titled "Astronauts ready for rescue mission they hope never happens" about the contingencies required with something as dangerous as space travel. With space shuttle Atlantis about to launch it's crew to the Hubble Space Telescope, shuttle Endeavour is fully prepared to launch a rescue mission if required.
It's a short, compelling read that makes me think of the Chris Jones book "Too Far From Home" (strangely renamed "Out of Orbit" for the paperback edition) which I reviewed as my first real (non list of magazine articles) post to this blog.