The Bicker Board

[TomK]

21:55 HST: De-orbit burn should have started. I think the capsule will have a north-to-south track and will not be visible from Hawaii. It should land on the ocean west just of San Diego.
22:12: They discarded the trunk. Too many souvenirs stored there added weight. Maybe the odd bottle of whiskey as well. Trajectory corrected. The nose cone has also been closed, so assume oil and coolant are good.
22:15: Committed to meeting the in-laws, splash down.
22:20: Comms lost, no talking to the mother-in-law. Too much ionization around the capsule but try getting her to believe that.
22:22: Weather's good, no excuses now.
22:26: A couple of minutes from parachute deployment. Pray.
22:34: Fiery object observed but seems in one piece. 
22:35. Communications back, crew OK, tears of joy.
22:38: Drogue parachutes successfully deployed. and all main parachutes deployed a little later.
22:42: A safe splashdown!
Kids - stay in school, the observatories in Hawaii offers routes for you to become part of this.

While I get the “British” mother-in-law humor, I have a few questions:

What does “praying” possibly do? 

Was this mission a success because people simply prayed? 

If it had ended in a catastrophe, would it be because people did not pray?

Is prayer a scientific method of accomplishment? And if so, how is it measured? 

Your questions assume I was being serious. I wasn't, and I suspect most reasonable people would have realised that. I was attempting to make a very serious situation somewhat light-hearted, and only you have complained. It's what my culture does. Look up the Blitz and how Londoners coped if you don't know what I'm talking about. This was the first emergency medical evacuation from a space station, and thanks to those who chose to become scientists and join that team, they worked their asses off to make it a success. On the other hand, I was very serious about getting kids involved with the observatories because they will hopefully go on to great careers and make a contribution to humanity.

Is this the best you can do?